Latest news from FE Week

Why are we still scared of tattooed teachers?

I was shocked recently by a photograph I took with my two grown-up children. Let’s get in the natural daylight, I said. That will be good. They both looked great – they always do. But I looked washed-out, pale, wrinkled, anaemic, baggy-eyed and, quite frankly, very very old.

It was the end of the college year so I excused myself from responsibility for the mess I saw before me on the grounds of academic enervation. Still, I must admit I carry the marks of a lifetime in my face these days; crow’s feet, worry lines and forehead wrinkles marking me. I stand a marked man.

It interests me how we mark ourselves. I have no tattoos, but it intrigues me that so many people do. What aspect of my inner self or being would I ever want to translate to my outer surface skin to display to the world? A tea cup, perhaps, since I am sure I am actually 80 per cent tea.

I know some tattoos are frivolous and meaningless, simple silly fun, but others have a profound resonance for people, reminding the bearer of a significant time in their life, a moment they want to recall. Or something they’re afraid to forget.

A college I know recently circulated a draft staff code of conduct for consultation, with a clause about staff tattoos. ‘Where possible’, it said, they needed to be covered up while at work. ‘Where possible’ is a tricky phrase, as it’s always technically possible. You can cover even bold facial tattoos with the judicious application of a medical mask, sunglasses, earmuffs and a broad-brimmed hat. But it might make teaching tricky. Don’t ask how I know.

The clause was finally removed and objections dropped.

A long time ago, I worked with a colleague who had a full-body tattoo. She regularly displayed her inked body as a photographic model. Good to have a side hustle, I suppose. Her students discovered this and although attendance at her classes increased, so did distraction levels as photos found online became currency.

Tattoos are an increasingly common part of British life. Gone are the days when a tattoo told the world you were a salty old sea-dog home on shore leave, or a street-toughened thug with a rap sheet as long as your needle-inked arm. Beneath those demure business suits all across the land, a whole host of inks now nestle. In America, Australia and the UK, around a third of people now have a tattoo. They are considerably more common amongst women than men. This is clearly not the tattooing your grandmother warned you about.

So what does this mean for any dress codes in teaching? Are tattoos really to be subtly sidelined, tucked away in shame, covered over like something which should be forgiven, a bad example being set to the impressionable youngsters in our care? Of course, working in the 16-19 sector, many of our students have tattoos too. And their parents often do. Asking a teacher to cover theirs up seems anomalous. Tattoos are clearly not what they were. Unless they signify some extreme political position or adherence to the yakuza, what are we really covering them up for?

But there is sometimes still a stigma surrounding ink. Tattoos are for the arty, the hipster, or – still this is sometimes thought – someone with bad judgement or a regrettable past.

I do not have any tattoos and I never will. But I’ve worked with talented, committed, professional and able teachers who have enriched students’ lives and changed their futures for the good, all while sporting a full sleeve or having some other uncovered imagery on show. It has not scandalised, disturbed or distracted anyone.

We need teachers from a range of backgrounds. We need teachers with backstories on which to draw. That is FE’s strength. And that might mean the drawing is there on the surface to be seen. Because sometimes we allow what has marked us to show. And in that there can be a lesson.

So I am left wondering what is more offensive to a student: a tattooed rose on the forearm of an art teacher or my heavily wrinkled weary old face? Personally, I know which I find more disturbing.

Colleges need students, not comms teams, running their TikTok

Sit next to any young student deciding where to go next and watch what actually happens. They don’t open a prospectus; they open TikTok, type the college’s name into the search bar, and see what comes up. Call it a vibe check. What surfaces isn’t a prospectus tour; it’s whatever students have posted. That’s the open day now, weeks before anyone books an actual slot.

Meanwhile, the official account has no idea and keeps doing what it’s always done: the principal presents a certificate or the science teacher demonstrates a mildly entertaining experiment. It’s fine. It’s also invisible to the people making the decision because a 16-year-old running that search has already correctly worked out that a comms team’s version of college life isn’t college life.

This is not a taste problem. It is a trust problem, and it is measurable: Ofcom’s own research finds that virtually every 13 to 17-year-old in the country is on social media, with TikTok and Instagram chief among them. These are not niche channels. They are where the decision gets made, long before anyone fills in an application form.

But being a real student is not enough on its own, and this is where colleges will get it wrong. I have the privilege of having a fourteen-year-old brother. Most of what he watches on TikTok has nothing to do with education; it’s gaming clips, pranks and whatever sound is trending.

We talk a lot in marketing about ‘stopping the scroll’, and a sincere but flat video of college life doesn’t stand a chance. The students worth backing already speak the platform’s language, the pacing, the humour, the trends, pointed at their own college life. Get that right, and it beats your polished prospectus video, because the audience trusts the person, not the institution.

There’s a money argument too. Recruitment keeps climbing faster than funding does: colleges are absorbing thousands more 16 to 18-year-olds every year than the funding model was built for, and every place has to be fought for against neighbouring providers, sixth forms and apprenticeships chasing the same cohort. Spending on generic content that nobody watches isn’t just wasteful; it burns through the budget while a trusted alternative sits unused.

One wrinkle worth noting: ministers announced in June that anyone under 16 will be legally barred from holding an account on TikTok, Instagram, YouTube and the rest, with the rule pencilled in for early 2027. However, if you think teenagers under 16 won’t find a workaround to the ban, I have some magic beans to sell you.

You may be reading this and thinking – “but what about safeguarding?” I would hope you don’t think I am suggesting you hand a phone to a 16-year-old and hope for the best. It obviously requires some level of process: written consent from parents and students, a clear line on what can’t be filmed or named, and a staff member who signs off before you hit ‘post’. That structure isn’t the enemy of authentic content. It’s what lets a student sound like themselves rather than a press release.

If I were in charge of a college (heaven forbid), I would speak with my media studies department and ask them to build some sessions on creating social media content that feels native to the platform where it will be posted and give them the opportunity to make things.

None of this means abandoning your own channels entirely. The job changes: instead of producing content, the marketing team’s job becomes finding the students who already do this well, giving them a bit of kit and a lot of trust, then getting out of the way.

Colleges spend a huge amount of energy worrying about Ofsted, funding rates and league tables, and perhaps rightly so. But the decision that determines whether any of that matters happens earlier, in a bedroom, on a phone, at eleven at night. Whoever is trusted and passes the vibe check in that moment wins the enrolment. Right now, for most colleges, that is not them.

FE must adapt to a new era of safeguarding

The latest guidance that the Department for Education issues for schools and colleges on safeguarding and safer recruitment, Keeping Children Safe in Education (KCSIE) 2026 raises the bar for safeguarding across the sector. But its implications for further education need particular attention.

FE colleges support a high proportion of learners who have not completed formal education, or who have come through alternative pathways such as pupil referral units, alternative provision or exclusion. That makes the renewed focus on violence prevention especially important for the sector.

This year’s guidance reflects the way that safeguarding risks are changing. The explicit inclusion of deepfakes and AI-generated nude imagery shows how seriously digital harms now need to be treated. Stronger language on misogyny and harmful sexual behaviour, alongside the recognition of cybersecurity as a safeguarding issue, also makes clear that online and offline risk can no longer be looked at separately.

For FE leaders, these changes are not abstract. They overlap directly with the realities of their students. Young people with disrupted education, previous offending or a history of being outside mainstream settings are already known to be at higher risk of carrying a weapon or becoming caught up in violent conflict. FE colleges are often where those risks become visible.

Recent national conversations around the Southport Inquiry and the introduction of Martyn’s Law, underline why this matters. Colleges are publicly accessible, community-facing spaces. They need to be able to demonstrate that they are prepared for serious incidents, with clear policies, practical response plans and staff who know what to do if concerns arise.

At the same time, the rise of extremism and casual violent ideation online is making the picture more complex. Social media and gaming spaces can expose young people to content that blends grievance, misogyny, gender-based violence and casual references to harm. For some learners, particularly those who feel disconnected or resentful, these narratives can become part of everyday digital life.

This creates a very practical challenge for FE safeguarding teams. The line between terrorism, extremism, criminality and harmful behaviour is becoming harder to define. Risk may show up through disengagement, resentment, sudden changes in a young person’s social circle, increased secrecy online, fixation on particular narratives or shifts in digital behaviour. These are the signs staff need to feel confident spotting and escalating.

In this context, staff training needs to be precise. Colleges should review whether safeguarding training reflects the realities set out in KCSIE 2026, and whether staff understand how these risks connect.

But there is also a hopeful message here, and it is one that feels specific to FE. Colleges are deeply embedded in their communities. They are often the place where young people find a route back into learning, purpose and belonging after difficult or disrupted experiences. That puts them in a strong position to offer effective early intervention.

Effective safeguarding in FE is therefore not only about identifying risk. It is also about creating the conditions for positive engagement. Programmes that build skills, confidence and peer support can reduce vulnerability, while trusted staff relationships can help learners feel seen before concerns escalate.

FE is often the last structured opportunity to intervene before risk becomes consequence. For many learners, it is the final point at which an education setting can influence behaviour, challenge harmful attitudes and support safer digital habits. That makes the role of FE in safeguarding not just preventative, but pivotal.

KCSIE 2026 reinforces the idea that safeguarding is everyone’s responsibility. In FE, that means every part of the college community has a role to play, from teaching teams and support services to senior leaders and employers. The response needs to be joined up because the risks young people face rarely sit neatly in one category.

The message for FE is clear. Safeguarding must evolve in line with the world young people are growing up in. Colleges need strong policies, confident staff and clear routes for action. But they also have a unique opportunity to offer belonging, purpose and support at the point it can make the greatest difference. Done well, FE can play a crucial role in preventing harm and helping young people build safer, more positive futures.

Government blocks Reform mayor’s residency rule change for adult education

The government has blocked Reform UK mayor Andrea Jenkyns’ planned introduction of a three-year residency rule for adult learners in Greater Lincolnshire.

Last month, skills minister Jacqui Smith ordered all mayors with devolved adult skills policy powers to fund any student who is resident in the UK from their first day of learning.

The order overrode Jenkyns’ decision to change funding eligibility for Greater Lincolnshire adult learners to at least three years from August 1, when the Reform UK mayor took control of adult skills for the first time.

It appears to be the first time since adult skills devolution began in 2019 that central government has taken steps to stop a mayoral authority’s policy.

The Greater Lincolnshire mayor also plans to cut funding for English language lessons aimed at migrants from next year and instead fund literacy and numeracy courses aimed at “native” Lincolnshire residents. The residency rule order does not impact this change.

On July 7, Smith issued a ministerial direction to all 17 mayors with devolved adult skills in the 2026-27 academic year, requiring them to adopt the same residency eligibility criteria as the Department for Education (DfE).

Ministers have the power to issue mayors with directions on what rules of eligibility they must adopt under the apprenticeships, skills, children and learning act 2009.

Smith wrote that the move is needed to ensure “a single consistent approach” to adult education eligibility is taken across England.

It comes only a year after the government itself dropped the three-year residency eligibility rule for adult education learners who applied to non-devolved areas, which appears to have been in place for more than ten years.

All authorities with devolved adult skills appear to have voluntarily adopted the same residency requirement as the government by the start of the 2025-26 academic year.

FE Week understands that a similar ministerial direction was last issued in 2019, requiring devolved areas to only fund training for learners who had been resident in the UK for at least three years.

The Greater London Authority was the first to drop the three-year residency requirement from the 2022-23 academic year, on the basis that access to training can “support social integration from their first day settling within the capital”.

FE Week contacted Greater Lincolnshire Combined County Authority for comment.

Steve Hewitt, adult education funding expert and trustee of ESOL-focused charity the Ruth Hayman Trust, said that before the DfE rule change in 2025, few adult learners were excluded from public funding due to the various exemptions, including for refugees and specified family members. Greater Lincolnshire planned to apply similar exemptions.

He said that while the move to retain the national residency rule was positive, he fears the government’s intervention could set a precedent for greater control over devolved authorities’ decision-making.

Hewitt said: “Although this change is a positive, if minor, change for the people of Lincolnshire, it worries me that the secretary of state is making directions towards strategic authorities.

“It’s this now, but what will it be next? We’ve had seven years of ‘it’s your money, get on with it’.

“There are so many eligibility differences up and down the country. Some would like there to be more consistency, but that’s not how devolution works, is it?”

Skills and devolution policy consultant Gareth Thomas added: “It’s important that legal entitlements are protected, but also that people are supported to move into the labour market as soon as possible.

“Making people wait three years to access English language training could increase their benefit and public service costs, which is surely something the government wants to avoid.

“I think local areas should still have control over what they fund, and the ability to align provision with market and societal need.”

A DWP spokesperson said: “The adult skills fund is designed to give people the skills they need for sustainable employment or further education.

“We recognise local leaders understand the skills needs of their residents and businesses and are committed to providing them with the powers they need to enable growth.

“The legislation sets out the parameters that strategic authorities should operate within, and the eligibility requirements for combined county authorities have been consistent for some years.”

Last month, new prime minister Andy Burnham announced that mayors will be handed control of 16-to-19 funding and a say on 14-to-16 technical pathways in a major shake-up of post-16 education.

Previously, ministers had resisted calls for such a move from mayors, arguing that such a move would lead to more “bureaucracy” and inequalities.

Further details on how the powers will be transferred are due to be confirmed in a white paper to be published alongside the autumn budget.

Eden College fights to keep adult learner loan contract after ‘urgent improvement’ rating

An east London training provider is fighting to keep its adult learner loan contract after receiving an ‘urgent improvement’ Ofsted judgment.

Adult training centre Eden College of Human Resource Development and Management Studies Limited, based in Romford, received the lowest possible grade for its leadership and governance in a report published on July 24, which described “overwhelmed” senior leaders and learners falling behind.

Staff, including middle managers and tutors, did not keep accurate records, leaving leaders and governors without a precise understanding of the provider’s strengths and weaknesses, inspectors found.

Days after the inspection report was published, Department for Education (DfE) officials sent the company a ‘notice of intention to take contractual action’.

The training provider has now asked the DfE to monitor its improvement in the coming months instead of immediately terminating its contract.

FE Week understands the provider has already suspended new starts while it waits for a response from the department.

DfE guidance on intervention at ITPs which have been assessed as ‘urgent improvement’ by Ofsted says the department will “typically terminate” their contracts after offering an opportunity to make representations.

But officials may issue “strict contractual conditions” where there is evidence that “rapid and robust” quality improvement can be made.

According to advanced learner loan funding and performance management rules, the department’s policy may include reducing or removing a provider’s allocation if an Ofsted grade is ‘inadequate’.

In the 12 months from the introduction of the new Ofsted inspection framework in November 2025, which removes overall headline grades, officials will “evaluate each case according to its own circumstances”.

‘Leaders feel overwhelmed’

In Eden College’s Ofsted report, inspectors said learners were falling behind due to insufficient management oversight of progress, attendance and achievement.

The report said: “Key management responsibilities are concentrated among a few staff, and middle managers and administrative staff lack the confidence and skills to analyse and report information accurately.

“As a result, senior leaders feel overwhelmed and unable to monitor the provision effectively or drive sustained improvements quickly.”

A spokesperson for Eden College said management has reflected on the inspection findings and is “committed to implementing all recommendations” to improve its provision.

These include “strengthened” procedures around attendance monitoring, governance arrangements, and teaching oversight.

The spokesperson added that the owner found the inspection process “very difficult”. The inspection was paused on day one, and resumed three days later.

At the time of the inspection in June, Eden College had 114 adult learner loan-funded students across England, training in childcare and health and social care, at levels 3 to 5.

Other students were studying level 3 diplomas in gym instructing and personal training, alongside level 3 awards and courses in special educational needs, and beauty and micropigmentation.

The provider opened more than 25 years ago and is owned by Freda Jacobson, who also runs Edenberries Day Nursery and Pre-School on the same site. The nursery’s provision was rated ‘good’ by Ofsted in February last year.

Ofsted graded Eden College’s teaching as ‘expected standard’, noting its “carefully planned” curriculum, knowledgeable tutors, and good preparation for their professions.

‘Too many’ missing learning

However, inspectors also rated achievement, participation and development, and inclusion as ‘needs attention’.

At the time of the visit, almost three quarters of learners were “behind with their studies” and a few learners had made “only limited progress” several months after their expected completion dates.

Leaders did not set high expectations for attendance, with “too many” missing learning and making slow progress, the inspectorate found.

While staff generally understood the needs of individual learners, extra support for learners with barriers was implemented inconsistently, with one group of beauty skills learners not receiving the additional English language support they needed.

However, learners studied in “supportive and welcoming” environments, valued tutors’ personal support, and spoke positively about the flexibility of training programmes.

Eden College was last inspected by Ofsted in 2024 when it was downgraded from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’ over “significant disruption” to some learners’ studies and poor tracking of learners’ progress.

Department for Education funding data shows the training provider had an approved facility for advanced learner loans and bursaries of more than £300,000 per year for the last four years.

However, the most up-to-date reconciled funding figures suggest the business accessed loans and bursaries of only £18,664 in 2022-23 and £17,891 in 2023-24.

Eden College also had an adult education contract with the Greater London Authority, earning £194,578 in 2021-22 and £257,000 in 2022-23.

This ended following the launch of the GLA’s new Jobs and Skills for Londoners contracts in 2023.

The company is also currently listed as suspended from new starts on the apprenticeship provider and assessment register. It joined the register in 2017, but is understood to have stopped delivering apprenticeship training in 2023.

NCFE cuts apprenticeship assessor workforce as EPA reforms bite

One of the country’s largest awarding organisations has put more than three-quarters of its end-point assessment (EPA) team at risk of redundancy as government reforms overhaul how apprentices are assessed.

NCFE informed staff this week that 87 roles within its EPA team are at risk as part of a proposed restructure of its apprenticeship assessment department.

The educational charity has proposed to transition to a more “flexible” workforce model, with greater use of freelance assessors, and restructuring its full-time end-point assessment team.

The 87 roles represent 77 per cent of the 113 staff currently employed across NCFE’s apprenticeship assessment team.

Impacted employees have entered a collective consultation period which will run for at least 45 days.

NCFE, which employs 750 people overall, is the sixth largest awarding organisation in England by EPA volumes. It delivered over 7,400 completed EPAs in 2024-25 across 43 apprenticeships in areas like early years, teaching, business administration, adult care and leadership and management.

Flexible fix

An NCFE spokesperson told FE Week that its “difficult decision” to restructure was driven by government policy changes.

Earlier this year, the Department for Work and Pensions announced 16 apprenticeship standards, mostly taken by older workers, will be defunded this September in a bid to redirect funding towards young people.

NCFE delivers assessments for six of the standards earmarked for defunding, including the popular level 3 team leader and level 5 operations manager apprenticeships.

The government is also replacing the end-point assessment model introduced in 2017 with a system that allows assessment to take place at any stage of the apprenticeship, rather than only at the end.

New assessment plans introduce “sampling” of knowledge and skills, while mandatory qualifications are being given a stronger role in some standards with a reduced need for independent assessment.

Employers will also now verify apprentices’ “behaviours” themselves instead of having them independently assessed, and training providers will be able to deliver and mark some assessment elements directly.

An NCFE spokesperson told FE Week: “Government policy announcements over the past year in relation to the defunding of apprenticeship standards and changes to end-point assessment have led us to complete a comprehensive review of our approach to apprenticeship assessment.

“As a result of this, we have had to make the difficult decision to propose changes that will transition our workforce to a more flexible model and change the structure of our end-point assessment team.”

They added that the awarding body will draw upon its “flexible” workforce – such as freelancers – beyond the core assessment team to respond to changing customer demand and assessment volume.

“We believe these changes will help us better support customers as some standards shift from end-point assessment towards a combined approach with customers,” the spokesperson said.

“Our priority is to support impacted colleagues through this process, guide learners throughout their end-point assessment journey, and maintain the high-quality service and support our customers expect.”

Construction applicants hit brick wall as demand overwhelms colleges

Hundreds of teenagers hoping to train as electricians, joiners and bricklayers are being turned away from colleges in West Yorkshire due to a severe lack of course places.

Bradford College closed applications to all of its 16 to 18 construction courses this week after receiving 2,439 applications for 448 places. It expects around 700 applicants to be left without a place.

Leeds College of Building, named as one of the government’s construction technical excellence colleges last year, told FE Week it has received more than 2,500 applications for around 1,000 places. It has not closed its books, but is running waiting lists for joinery, electrical, plumbing, brickwork and multiskills courses. It said it would be unable to take around 800 students.

Keighley College, which also serves the Bradford area, said its electrical, fabrication and welding, and motor vehicle courses were at capacity, with applications across those areas up 40 per cent. The college, part of Luminate Education Group, said applicants were being directed to other providers, including Leeds College of Building.

It means both Bradford and Keighley are signposting applicants to a college that is already running waiting lists.

Applications to Bradford rose 46 per cent in a year, up from 1,673 in 2025-26. Electrical installation was the most oversubscribed, with 1,333 young people chasing 139 places.

Chris Webb, principal of Bradford College, said it was “deeply frustrating” that young people who wanted to train for careers in construction couldn’t get college places.

“Every learner turned away is a missed opportunity for a young person and for employers already struggling to recruit skilled workers,” he added.

College cash reserves

Bradford spent £1.2 million from its own cash reserves this year on construction workshops at an industrial site on Bowling Back Lane, creating 250 extra places.

It is the second time the college has paid to expand capacity itself. Webb said it spent £1.5 million two years ago to create 600 level 1 places, taking its own investment to £2.7 million.

The college was unable to bid for a share of the £287 million in post-16 and construction capacity funding awarded by the Department for Education (DfE) last month, because that pot was open only to colleges in non-devolved areas.

Colleges in West Yorkshire must instead go through the combined authority. A spokesperson told FE Week it was “investing a record amount into growing construction skills in our region, including £12 million of capital investment to create new spaces for young people, and a dedicated £8.6 million construction skills package to support adults into the sector too”.

But the combined authority said that would not meet the growing needs of the region’s FE estate, and that much of the space that does exist is the wrong kind, with a surplus of A Level classrooms and a deficit of construction and engineering workshops.

Bradford College said it was also close to capacity in health and social care, computing, sport, business, and beauty and barbering, but expected to absorb growth in those areas because they do not need the infrastructure, equipment and space that trades provision requires.

Leeds City Council, alongside Greater Manchester Combined Authority, received a share of £20 million in post-16 capacity cash in 2025-26, which the DfE said went to the places with greatest need. Those funds were not available for Bradford.

Luminate said the college had created more internal space, leased additional space and planned to extend its construction department.

‘We need to borrow’

Leeds College of Building spent its £2 million share on a former Vodafone site next to its city centre campus. A larger project would create 2,100 places from 2028, but Nikki Davis, the college’s chief executive, said it was £10 million short even after committing its own funds and assuming a share of technical excellence college capital funding through the combined authority.

Davis said available capital funding was too small to make an impact in Leeds. The alternative, she said, was the ability to borrow

Colleges were reclassified as public sector organisations in November 2022, meaning new commercial borrowing needs DfE consent. The department’s own guidance says that because commercial lenders have higher costs, colleges are in practice very unlikely to meet the value-for-money test.

She said a proposal to let colleges borrow, with West Yorkshire as a test case, had made no progress despite the combined authority being willing. With access to commercial borrowing, she said, the project would be fully on track

The combined authority spokesperson said: “We cannot succeed in our mission when talented young people are being turned away from brilliant institutions like Bradford College and the Leeds College of Building because of a lack of places on vital programmes like construction.

“We welcome the government’s pledge to put technical and academic education on an equal footing. That must now translate into true devolution of nationally prescribed funds, so that we can deliver both the right amount and type of space for our young people to train in.”

It is also asking the DfE for the power to lend capital to colleges, and for full devolution of national pots including the £625 million construction skills package.

‘The future workforce our city needs’

Bradford College said 4.1 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds in the city were not in education, employment or training (NEET) or had an unknown destination, against a national average of 5.6 per cent.

It estimated that this equated to around 750 young people and would double if the 700 applicants the college cannot place found no alternative.

Naz Shah, Labour MP for Bradford West, said the city had worked hard to reduce NEET levels, but that colleges were now being forced to turn applicants away because they had no more teaching space.

“We must look at how we can better serve the changing needs of vocational education,” she said.

“To achieve economic growth, housing, infrastructure and regeneration, we need to further invest in the skills system needed to deliver them. These young people are the future workforce our city and country needs.”

Shah said she backed the college’s call for urgent action, and that she believed “the government under the new prime minister is taking this area more seriously”.

‘Exceptional’ Exeter Uni praised for ‘fundamentally reshaped’ apprenticeships

The University of Exeter has “fundamentally reshaped” its degree apprenticeships to remove barriers before learners encounter them, Ofsted has found, in an inspection that awarded three ‘exceptional’ grades.

Inspectors said the university had redesigned its approach around anticipating apprentices’ needs, resulting in “highly inclusive and frequently transformational educational experiences”.

Exeter was awarded the top ‘exceptional’ grade for leadership and governance, apprentices’ achievement, and participation and development.

Ofsted gave the university a ‘strong standard’ grade for inclusion and curriculum and teaching.

It is the strongest result for a skills provider to date under Ofsted’s new inspection framework.

Inspectors said leaders had worked “tirelessly” to develop an approach in which barriers to learning were identified and addressed early.

Apprenticeship provision now contributes “significantly” to wider university improvement work, including influencing institutional approaches to neurodiversity, inclusive pedagogy, mathematics anxiety and professional mentoring.

The report said the university had developed a “no lost learning” approach across its degree apprenticeships, where leaders ensure that apprentices “fully participate in their learning across the curriculum and that their attendance is consistently very high”.

Staff create opportunities for apprentices to share their experiences with peers from different industries through “structured networking groups and ‘learning circles’”, which Ofsted said builds apprentices’ confidence in discussing common issues that they may face.

Leaders “recognise the significance” of their offer in providing apprentices with “highly prized” professional qualifications in addition to their degrees and focus their efforts on making sure that their apprenticeships are “available to all”, inspectors added.

‘Exceptional’ progress

Apprenticeship achievement rates at Exeter hit 84 per cent in 2024-25, compared with 65 per cent nationally. This was up from 81 per cent at Exeter in 2023-24.

Ofsted said the progress made by apprentices from their starting points was “exceptional”, including for disadvantaged learners.

Many achieved merit and distinction grades, while apprentices were also praised for producing work of a “very high quality” that “transforms” the operations of the companies they work for.

Apprentices completed projects and research that produced “valuable cost-saving and efficiency-enhancing proposals”, Ofsted found.

The university had around 3,900 apprentices at the time of inspection, across levels 4 to 7, with its largest cohort on the level 7 senior leader apprenticeship – one of the standards that lost government funding for new starters aged 22 and over from January 2026.

Other industries its apprentices work in include digital and data, engineering and mining, healthcare, and accounting and finance.

Ofsted also praised Exeter’s close work with employers to ensure apprentices had suitable workplace environments and received the right support.

Apprentices were offered adaptations including assessment extensions and British Sign Language interpreters, while staff were able to identify learning and support needs quickly.

The university had also expanded opportunities for apprentices beyond their core programmes, including its Leading Edge speaker programme, WorldSkills UK competitions, societies and professional guilds.

Inspectors said these opportunities helped apprentices develop a “sophisticated” understanding of issues including ethical leadership and sustainability.

Professor Lisa Roberts, president and vice-chancellor of the University of Exeter, said this “outstanding recognition” by Ofsted reflects “not only the strength of our educational provision, but also our commitment to understanding and responding to the needs of employers”.

“This achievement – the first of its kind in the country – is shared with the employers who work alongside us every day to create transformative learning experiences and exceptional opportunities for our apprentices,” she added.

The University of Exeter’s degree apprenticeships were last inspected in 2022, when it received a ‘good’ overall rating under Ofsted’s previous framework.

A day in the life of a WorldSkills expert

Most attendees of a WorldSkills event see the competitors front and centre, with their heads down and tools in hand, racing the clock.

What they often miss are the people standing over their shoulders, armed with a clipboard and running on just a few hours of sleep.

That is the job of a WorldSkills expert. For Mike Swan, it’s a world away from his day job as a construction curriculum leader at Dundee and Angus College.

Swan has been a training manager for the painting and decorating skill since 2005 and has been a key mentor training Team UK members in the run-up to international competitions every year since.

Once the contest is up and running, however, mentors must hand in their training manager cap for an expert cap.

“When you’re a training manager, you’re there to supervise and manage the competitor leading up to the competition but as soon as you come to the competition as an expert, you have to forget that role completely,” Swan explained.

“You’re there to run the competition and to be as fair as possible for every single competitor.”

Before competitors arrive

WorldSkills UK training managers automatically become competition experts when they voluntarily join the organisation.

At an international final, whether it be a EuroSkills or WorldSkills competition, one assigned expert per competitor is expected at the event.

For the upcoming global competition in Shanghai in September, there are 22 experts for painting and decorating alone who all must follow strict competition guidelines and remain neutral in the judging process.

Experts are restricted in the contact they have with their own competitors and are only allowed to provide pastoral support instead of technical guidance throughout the event.

“All you’re allowed to do is talk to them about how they’re feeling. Anything related to the tasks, you’re not allowed to talk about,” Swan explained.

“I have the view that if they’re needing me to tell them to do anything at a competition, then I’ve not trained them properly.

“I want them to go to a competition and feel that they can be there on their own without me or without anybody else.”

Swan, as chief expert, will oversee the proceedings over the three-day competition.

At the last WorldSkills event in Lyon, France in 2024, that meant waking up at 4am to arrive on site around 6.30am – an hour before the other experts.

Mike Swan with competitor Dior Regan at WorldSkills Lyon 2024

“I had to be first person on site to open up and make sure everything was okay, nothing was tampered with during the evening,” he said.

Out of the entire competition day, Swan said getting started is the most difficult logistical task for him before anyone picks up a paint brush.

“You’re working with so many different nations and interpreters,” he said.

“You need to make sure you get instructions across properly and everybody understands them.”

On your marks

After the doors open to the public, competitors are typically on the floor from around 9am to 6pm.

One of Swan’s responsibilities is to manage the entire logistics of the day’s competition. This could include managing timed tasks, adhering to health and safety requirements and solving any problems that prevent a smooth-running contest.

“There’s always things that do not go to plan. You’ve got to think on your feet and find solutions extremely quickly,” he said.

“I want the competitors to be seen, and I want experts to be invisible.”

As experts parole the competition floor all day, they can often develop “competition feet”, which can involve painful blisters and sores.

“I always take my foot balm because you’re on concrete all day,” Swan said. “You’ve got safety boots on and your feet are sweating a lot so you can imagine the mess your feet get in.”

After competitors retire for the day, experts come together to get straight into assessing, which can take all night sometimes.

Swan aims to send the rest of the experts home by 9 or 10pm, but at the 2019 competition in Kazan, Russia, a marking session ran through the entire night.

“I didn’t have any time to get back to the hotel. I just ended up staying overnight. I think I had a sit in a chair and keeled over.”

Stickler for the rules

Every expert also has to memorise a “fairly thick” set of rules before the event. Beyond the general WorldSkills rules, each skill has its own additional rulebook.

For painting and decorating, the judging is extremely precise. For instance, assessors are only allowed to check a competitor’s painted wall from 1.5 metres away when checking for defects.

Teams of four experts are drawn up during marking. Three will mark and one will supervise.

More importantly, experts must recuse themselves from marking their own national competitor.

Swan’s job is to create and manage the expert teams, which involves deliberately mixing in experienced and newbie experts together as well as directing when experts should remove themselves from marking.

Judging is also “very marginal”, he said.

“All the competitors have got an incredible level of standard, and the difference between silver and bronze can be minuscule – it can come down to half a millimetre, or different levels of opacity.”

The painting and decorating competition is often one of the last to finish marking each day and sometimes does not wrap up until 1am or later.

“You’re working with a lot of experts who are tired and hungry, and you’ve got to keep the spirits up,” Swan said.

Swan swears off caffeine to stay awake, citing his dietitian wife who taught him good habits to stay energetic during competition week.

But the job of an expert can be so intense that habits can sometimes fail.

At last year’s EuroSkills Herning in Denmark, Swan forgot to eat until 9pm and started experiencing blackouts from exhaustion.

“I recognised then, ‘right, I need to go and have a wee power nap here’.”

For all the risks of sleep deprivation and “competition feet”, Swan comes back year after year, bar a decade-long break to raise his children before returning in 2018.

“It’s the look on the competitors’ faces on the last day, when I drag them back into the room and give them the debrief. The elation, the joy, the relief – it just oozes out of them.”

Mike Swan at his first WorldSkills event in Shizuoka, Japan 2007 alongside painting and decorating competitor Chris Blake

His first memorable moment was when Mark Nevin won the gold medal in 2009 at WorldSkills Calgary, Canada.

But his proudest moment was last year in Herning when Team UK competitor Shelby Fitzakerly won a medallion for excellence after just 13 days of training.

“That completely blew me away with what she took on board and what she learned in a short space of time, and that was extremely memorable,” he said.

Fitzakerly and Swan at EuroSkills Herning 2025

Fitzakerly will represent Team UK for the painting and decorating skills in Shanghai later next month.

When asked what his advice was to anyone considering becoming a training manager, he said: “It’s probably the hardest work you’ll ever do. It really is hard work. But it’s one of the most rewarding things I’ve ever done.”

FE Week is the media partner of WorldSkills UK.