Skip to content
9 September 2026

Latest news from FE Week

Ofsted report cards: What have nine months taught us?

We’re days away from the new academic year, and a return to work means fresh Ofsted inspections. So what have nine months of the inspectorate’s new report card regime revealed?

From November to July, 279 full inspections of FE and skills providers were published, with the five-point grading system applied across up to 16 individual evaluation areas.

Independent training providers (ITPs) accounted for 209 (75 per cent) of inspections, while general FE colleges made up just 5 per cent with 14 inspected. The rest was split between employer providers, independent specialist colleges, local authority providers and higher education institutions.

Ofsted’s post-16 director Jonathan Childs told the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ national conference in July that we were “still some way from having a representative view of how different provider groups, and different types of provision, are faring under the renewed framework”.

However, trends are emerging. Our analysis, which excludes monitoring visit reports and 16-to-19 academies, points to four areas.

‘Exceptional’ no longer an exception

From the 279 full inspections, just two providers received the coveted ‘exceptional’ grade for an evaluation area.

They were Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association for ‘inclusion’, and System People Limited for ‘adult learning programmes’.

Challenged by FE Week on the low number of top grades for the sector last month, Childs said the grade was “definitely not out of reach for any provider type”, adding it was “about you doing the very best job you could be doing with your learners, that is having a transformational impact on their outcomes and is sustained over time”.

Childs said he was “sure and confident” that “plenty more providers” would secure the highest judgment as more inspections were completed.

Since his comments, and the period for this analysis, BAE Systems and the University of Exeter have both been rated ‘exceptional’ for apprenticeship delivery.

Colleges’ leadership woes

Leadership and governance emerged as an area of weakness among the first general FE colleges to be inspected.

Six of the 14 colleges (43 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’ in this area.

Of the 209 ITPs inspected, 28 (13 per cent) received the same grade. Two ITPs suffered the lowest ‘urgent improvement’ rating.

Across all 279 FE and skills providers, 41 (15 per cent) received either ‘urgent improvement’ or ‘needs attention’ for leadership and governance.

No general FE college received an ‘urgent improvement’ judgment, while seven were rated ‘expected standard’ and one achieved ‘strong standard’.

Ofsted flagged issues with student attendance, achievement and retention among colleges receiving ‘needs attention’ grades.

At St Helens College, inspectors found that managers did not identify “quickly enough” why students were dropping out of courses or failing to achieve their qualification.

South and City College Birmingham also received a ‘needs attention’ judgment for leadership and governance after inspectors found that leaders’ actions to improve attendance had “not had the desired outcomes”, adding that the numbers of adults and young people who attend their lessons “remain too low”.

Similar criticism was made to Macclesfield College, Furness College, Wirral Metropolitan College and Bolton College.

The two ITPs that received the lowest possible rating of ‘urgent improvement’ for leadership and governance – Eden College and Averee Ltd – were both criticised for poor oversight of learners’ progress, attendance and achievement.

Achievement struggles

The ‘achievement’ evaluation area has been a focus of criticism for many providers.

Of the 30 full inspections of providers offering 16-to-19 programmes, 11 (37 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’ for achievement.

Eight providers (27 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’ for both curriculum, teaching and training, and participation and development.

Of the 14 general FE colleges inspected, six (43 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’ for 16-to-19 achievement. None received a ‘strong standard’ or ‘exceptional’ judgment.

Achievement rates for education programmes for young people at colleges with low judgments ranged between 76 and 87 per cent, against the national average of 84 per cent.

But Ofsted has stressed that achievement is about more than just qualification outcomes.

Inspectors also consider the progress that learners make from their starting points, the development of their knowledge and skills, and the standards of their work. The watchdog is especially interested in learners’ next steps and whether they go on to positive destinations that match their ambitions and potential.

There have been 199 full inspections covering apprenticeship provision. Of those, 149 were ITPs.

For achievement, 21 providers (11 per cent) received one of the two weakest judgments, with four rated ‘urgent improvement’ and 17 ‘needs attention’.

Three of the four providers to receive ‘urgent improvement’ for achievement – JS Consult, Averee, and Cherith Simmons Learning & Development LLP – had achievement rates ranging between 20 and 36 per cent in 2023-24, against a national average of 61 per cent.

The fourth provider – Oasis Care and Training Agency – had its achievement rate suppressed in that year due to low numbers, but its Ofsted report stated that achievement rates were “extremely low and have been for too long” and there was “no sign that achievements will improve”.

All four training providers operate in the adult care apprenticeship market.

Among the 113 providers to be assessed in the adult learning programme space, 11 (10 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’, and one –  Knights Training Academy – received an ‘urgent improvement’ grade. Knights had 25 adult learners, with most studying the level 3 diploma in gym instructor qualification. Ofsted said “too many” of its adult learners “take too long to achieve their qualifications, which significantly slows their ability to move on to further learning or work”.

 

Strong start for inclusion

Ofsted introduced ‘inclusion’ as a new inspection area under its revamped framework to assess what providers were doing to understand the diversity of their students, and to identify and dismantle barriers to learning and achievement.

Across the 279 providers analysed, 38 (14 per cent) were rated ‘needs attention’, while no provider was dealt an ‘urgent improvement’ judgment.

‘Expected standard’ was achieved by 177 providers (63 per cent), 63 (23 per cent) received ‘strong standard’, and one provider was deemed ‘exceptional’.

Childs told AELP’s conference that for most providers with good inclusion grades, learners’ and apprentices’ needs were “identified early and support is provided swiftly, and – mostly – we have seen staff working effectively with external agencies such as local authorities and health and social care teams to ensure learners get the appropriate support”.

Poplar Housing and Regeneration Community Association, which received the top ‘exceptional’ grade for inclusion, offers short courses from entry level to level 2 for adults in East London.

Ofsted said the provider was “intrinsically” embedded in its communities and commended leaders for “improving the life chances of people”. The provider “commits to widening participation for those who face significant barriers, particularly those who are unemployed and from poverty”, the report added.

The weakest judgments for inclusion were concentrated among ITPs, with 33 (16 per cent) of the 209 inspected receiving a ‘needs attention’ rating.

Only one general FE college, Furness College, suffered a ‘needs attention’ judgment for inclusion. Two independent specialist colleges also received the judgment.

Childs said that where providers do not achieve ‘expected standard’, the watchdog had found there was “often a lack of useful professional development for staff to enable them to support learners and apprentices facing barriers, such as those with SEND”.

There were also cases where leaders’ monitoring of planned support needed to be “sharper to enable them to understand the effectiveness of interventions and make the appropriate adjustments over time”.

Bell quits Skills England role amid work pressure

David Bell has resigned as vice chair of Skills England, citing the demands of his other commitments in higher education. 

Bell had juggled his national role at the government agency for the last 18 months alongside his day job as vice chancellor and chief executive of the University of Sunderland. 

He was appointed in February last year to lead the newly established Skills England, alongside chair Phil Smith and joint chief executives Tessa Griffiths and Sarah Maclean. 

The Department for Work and Pensions said it had no plans to recruit a replacement vice chair and an existing board member would deputise for Smith as needed. 

Bell, a former Department for Education permanent secretary and Ofsted chief inspector, said he maintained a “keen interest” in the skills system but took the decision to stand down “due to the demands of my other commitments”. 

Earlier this year, he was also tasked with leading an independent review on antisemitism in colleges. His report detailing recommendations is due to be published this autumn. 

“It has been a great pleasure to be part of Skills England’s informed, energetic and enthusiastic board,” Bell said. 

“I’m proud that Skills England has already made an important contribution to bringing about the kind of coherence and responsiveness necessary if we’re to make sure our country has the skilled workforce it needs, both now and in the future.” 

Smith said: “I want to thank David for his outstanding contribution to the board and wish him all the very best for the future. We appreciate the time and considerable effort he has dedicated to the role of vice chair, alongside his many other commitments. 

“His insight and considered judgment have been invaluable in guiding Skills England, as we launched and have worked towards bringing more cohesion, momentum and pace to a system that had become too complex.” 

Skills England was set up as an executive agency of the Department for Education, tasked with coordinating cross-government strategies on the country’s skills needs. 

Bell, who received between £20,000 and £25,000 a year from the agency, had stressed its role was to provide an “evidence base” for England’s skills requirements but it was up to ministers to decide on spending and resources. 

Following the machinery of government change last September, Skills England became part of the Department for Work and Pensions.

DfE ditched provider before Ofsted revealed improvement

A training provider hit by Ofsted’s lowest grade had its government contract torn up a month before inspectors returned and upgraded its apprenticeship achievement judgment by two ratings.

JS Consult Limited, which was the country’s first ITP to get the ‘urgent improvement’ grade when inspected in January, had an 20 per cent official apprenticeship achievement rate for 2023-24.

But inspectors returning for a monitoring visit in July used up-to-date R10 learner data and concluded that “since the previous inspection, leaders’ actions have resulted in a substantial increase in apprentices who complete their course and achieve their qualification”.

The Department for Education had terminated the London provider’s contract in June.

JS Consult received the ‘expected standard’ rating for apprenticeship achievement in a report published on Monday.

The ITP said it had been left “disappointed” by the DfE and called on the department to give providers time to demonstrate progress before terminating contracts.

Four years of failings

During Ofsted’s January inspection, JS Consult had 47 apprentices, with 22 studying the level 3 lead adult care worker apprenticeship.

Inspectors reported that “achievement rates are too low and have been for the previous four years”, adding that too many apprentices have “not been prepared well” for their final assessments and leave their apprenticeship after they achieve their adult care diploma qualification.

Qualification figures for 2024-25, published in March, revealed JS Consult’s overall apprenticeship achievement rate had fallen further to 16.1 per cent.

But JS Consult told FE Week that the Ofsted monitoring team who returned in July used up-to-date R10 learner data provided to the DfE alongside additional evidence of achievement, including end-point assessment certificates for apprentices who had subsequently completed their apprenticeship.

Ofsted confirmed to FE Week that inspectors can use other verified in-year data sources alongside published qualification achievement rates to evaluate achievement, including validated DfE data returns and certificates for learners who have passed their end-point assessment.

Under Ofsted’s new approach, providers receiving the lowest judgment are subject to a monitoring visit within six months of the original inspection.

DfE guidance for ITPs states that where a provider receives an ‘urgent improvement’ judgment for any provider-level or provision-type evaluation area, the department will “consider the provision to be at risk and will assess whether contractual action is required”.

JS Consult had been subject to a suspension on starts from June 2025.

‘Wider questions for sector’

A spokesperson for the firm told FE Week: “We are disappointed the DfE did not wait for the outcome of the monitoring inspection before making the decision to terminate our contract.

“We fully understand the need for intervention where providers are not delivering the required outcomes, but we believe there is an important wider question for the sector about what opportunity providers should have to demonstrate that significant and measurable improvement has been achieved.”

Ofsted’s monitoring report found that leaders had introduced a “comprehensive range of quality improvement activities” over the previous six months, including “suitable” training for tutors and closer working with employers.

The report said more than three quarters of JS Consult’s apprentices who started the level 3 lead adult care apprenticeship were achieving their qualification, with around half getting a merit or distinction.

JS Consult had 21 apprentices in July, including 12 studying the level 3 lead adult care worker apprenticeship. It said it would support all remaining apprentices until completion.

The ITP continues to hold a contract to deliver publicly funded skills bootcamp courses in adult social care.

JS Consult’s spokesperson added: “Our concern is not about avoiding accountability. It is about ensuring that where a provider responds positively to inspection findings, makes substantial improvements and can demonstrate that those improvements are having a real impact on learners and apprentices, there is an opportunity for that progress to be recognised and considered in decisions about the provider’s future.

“We hope that our experience contributes constructively to that wider discussion.”

Training providers ‘optional’ under Reform apprenticeship plan

Training providers would be sidelined under Reform UK plans to let more employers deliver apprenticeships in-house, the party has revealed.

In an apprenticeship policy paper unveiled by education spokesperson Suella Braverman on GCSE results day, Reform pledged to “reverse the collapse” in starts from 353,000 in 2024-25 to a target of 600,000.

By making third-party training providers “optional” for small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs), Reform said it would reduce “red tape”.

Other proposals include a headline 30 per cent tax credit on wages for SMEs hiring 16 to 18-year-old apprentices, and a £2,000 tax-free retention bonus for young workers who stay with their employer for two years after completing their apprenticeship.

It also suggested softening rules around off-the-job training, English and maths exit requirements and apprentice assessment.

Baroness Alison Wolf, who served as an adviser on skills to the prime minister’s office from 2020 to 2023, called the wage credit policy “in principle a good idea” but said weakening formal training would be “very, very bad”.

“It would effectively abolish apprenticeships in a very large proportion of cases, and just replace it with a wage subsidy,” she said.

‘Suboptimal’ apprenticeship model

Currently, the only employers that can run apprenticeship training in-house are those with a wage bill of at least £3 million that pay the apprenticeship levy.

But of the 37,000 large employers that pay the levy, just 122 have taken this option by becoming a so-called ‘employer provider’.

Reform UK argued the apprenticeship model was “suboptimal” because apprentices must spend six hours a week away from their regular duties for off-the-job training, sometimes in a classroom.

It said this created a cost and bureaucratic burden for employers, particularly small businesses, which must find and choose a training provider.

The party said its proposal would remove this “psychological and practical barrier” by allowing a greater number of employers to conduct apprenticeship training in-house, according to their “professional judgment and industry standards”.

Employers could focus on practical on-the-job training or set aside time for book-based learning where necessary, while external providers would remain available but “optional”.

Young people choose apprenticeships for “proper work experience”, the party argued, adding that classroom environments are “not conducive to many people’s learning needs”.

Reform’s policy paper states that for trades where there are implications for public safety, “qualifications will be required, but again it will be for qualified employers to map out the route”.

It added: “Where outside approval may be necessary, it should be trade associations that carry out assessments in the first instance.”

Reform also promised to scrap the exit requirement for 16 to 18-year-old apprentices to achieve a level 2 qualification in English and maths to complete an apprenticeship. This rule was removed by Labour last year, but only for adults.

The party said it would consult on the proposals if it wins the next general election.

‘Not a bureaucratic burden’

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Ben Rowland welcomed plans to remove English and maths exit requirements for under-19s and measures to make it easier for smaller employers to access incentives and bursaries.

But he questioned whether extending the scope of employers to become in-house training providers would be popular.

He pointed out that only around 0.3 per cent of eligible employers choose to become employer providers, which demonstrates the expertise, capacity and commitment required to deliver apprenticeship training in-house.

Rowland said: “The magic of an apprenticeship is its unique blend of learning on and off the job.

“For most SMEs, dedicated off-the-job training is not a bureaucratic burden but a valuable part of developing a skilled and productive employee.

“Training providers also provide vital support to SMEs throughout the entire apprenticeship journey, from taking on a young person through to successful completion.

“Greater flexibility for employers is welcome, but it must not come at the expense of the high-quality, structured training that makes an apprenticeship an apprenticeship.”

Learning and Work Institute chief executive Stephen Evans said financial incentives like wage subsidies and retention bonuses “can help” increase the number of apprenticeships for young people, but apprenticeship growth “ultimately depends on a strong economy and employer demand”.

He added that apprenticeships should prepare people for a career, not just the job they’re doing today.

“That’s why off-the-job training and English and maths matter,” Evans warned. “Removing these requirements would be a mistake and would take England further out of line with leading apprenticeship systems like Germany.”

Jamie Cater, employment policy manager at manufacturing sector body Make UK, said businesses would welcome simplification of the apprenticeship system, but removal of off-the-job training and basic literacy and numeracy skills would “risk undermining the readiness of apprentices to move straight into work”.

600,000 starts a year

Reform’s overall goal is to reach 600,000 apprenticeship starts a year, almost double the 353,000 starts recorded in 2024-25.

The party’s 30 per cent wage credit for 16 to 18-year-old apprentices would provide up to £4,742 per worker per year.

Reform’s calculations for the wage credit and retention bonus estimate a cost of between £1.4 and £2 billion between 2027-28 and 2031-31.

The current government apprenticeship budget is £3.3 billion a year and has been fully spent in recent years, forcing ministers to find savings by cutting public funding for some apprenticeships.

Reform did not pledge to increase the overall apprenticeship budget, instead pointing to savings elsewhere including a proposal to ban foreign students from accessing taxpayer-funded loans for university study.

The party would also “come down like a tonne of bricks on taxpayer-funded Mickey Mouse degrees from third-rate universities”, with no more public subsidies for “woke nonsense like gender studies or critical race theory”.

Other proposals include creating a “one-stop shop” for apprenticeship contracts, employer handbooks and paperwork, and using “automation” to speed up the apprenticeship service.

The party would also scrap the current intermediate, advanced and higher apprenticeship classifications and instead classify apprenticeships by occupation, with ranked standards within each occupation.

DfE plans £800m national SEND CPD framework

The government plans to create a new national framework worth up to £800 million to offer teachers continuing professional development (CPD) on SEND inclusion.

The four-year framework, which could be extended by two further years, would be used to design and deliver CPD to staff across early years, schools and further education.

In January, the Department for Education committed £200 million to provide SEND training to all teaching staff in every college, school and nursery, as part of major SEND reforms that aim to increase inclusion in mainstream settings.

The sector broadly welcomed the investment but some warned of a focus on “short-term pots of cash” and the lack of a long-term training plan.

Framework will help deliver SEND training

The planned framework would be used to deliver a significant proportion of the already-confirmed £200 million training package – though some elements have already been procured separately.

It could be live for up to six years and would have a “maximum potential lifetime value” of up to £800 million, meaning it could be used to deliver SEND workforce development longer-term.

The framework would “support the government’s investment in SEND workforce development and provide a flexible route to market for both immediate and future SEND CPD requirements”.

However, the DfE stressed any investment beyond the confirmed £200 million remains subject to future Treasury spending review decisions.

“This [£800m] figure represents the maximum potential value of the procurement and does not constitute a commitment to spend,” the department said in an official notice.

Staff must ‘engage meaningfully’

Alison Peacock, chief executive of the Chartered College of Teaching, welcomed the “significant, and potentially long-term, investment in professional development around SEND”.

Alison Peacock

But to achieve its full impact, “individuals and schools [and colleges] will need to create capacity and time to engage meaningfully with the programmes”, she added.

“This will be happening alongside changes to curriculum, assessment and accountability measures, as well as a relatively new inspection framework, all of which make demands of school [and college] staff.”

Peacock warned that SEND students also need specialist support from a range of other professionals, many of whom are “stretched too thinly” to provide adequate help to parents, learners and providers.

SEND training should be in-person – Kebede

NEU general secretary Daniel Kebede also welcomed the investment, but said the union “is not convinced the funding is sufficient to deliver the quality of training required”.

He also called for all training to be in-person.

Daniel Kebede

“For too long SEND training has been provided through online courses – what is required is in person training with coaching and accreditation.”

He added that the government “must” develop professional qualifications for teaching assistants who support SEND students.

‘SEND reforms cannot be done on the cheap’

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the leaders’ union ASCL, said access to training and professional development “is essential if the SEND reforms are to be a success” and called for continued investment.

“The changes education staff are being tasked with implementing are hugely significant. Ongoing training is vital in ensuring these new expectations can be met and that children can get the support they require.

“Future spending reviews therefore must lay the groundwork for this system of training and professional development being embedded across the education system, as this is not something that can be done on the cheap.”

Contracts from March

The tender process is expected to launch in September, with a view to awarding contracts by March 2027.

Services commissioned may include design and development of national SEND CPD programmes, as well as learning resources and materials. They may also include training delivery, quality assurance, and digital learning.

Multiple suppliers are expected to be involved in delivering the SEND CPD programme.

The DfE has confirmed the timeline for its £200 million training package remains the same.

Free downloadable training materials designed by teacher training provider Ambition Institute are to be released from September.

New fully funded “inclusive education” training courses for teachers, leaders, teaching assistants, and FE support staff will be on offer by autumn next year.

Ofsted to review NEET prevention strategies

Successful strategies for helping disengaged young people transition into post-16 education will be highlighted in a new Ofsted-led study aimed at tackling rising NEET numbers.

The watchdog and Department for Education have jointly commissioned research into “effective” strategies for helping 16 to 18-year-olds remain in education, employment or training.

The study will identify practices from schools, colleges and training providers that helps young people stay engaged, prevents dropouts and support those who have already disengaged to re-enter education or training.

More than one million young people are currently estimated to be classed as not in education, employment or training (NEET).

Former Labour health minister Alan Milburn is currently running a national review into youth participation in work and education. His interim report in May warned of a post-16 system prioritised on enrolling young people into college rather of helping them progress into work.

His final recommendations are expected this autumn.

According to the terms of reference of the Ofsted and DfE review, published today, the inspectorate will investigate how schools and post-16 providers support young people as they move into their next destination.

Ofsted will examine its “rich” inspection evidence on a national scale that covers factors linked to disengagement such as attendance, inclusion, personal development and careers education.

Ofsted stressed that its role in this project is not to set new statutory expectations, but to identify effective practice and emerging evidence that can inform inspection practice, provider guidance and policy development.

Researchers will examine how schools, colleges and training providers identify and tackle barriers that increase a young person’s risk of becoming disengaged.

They will also assess how far existing inspection evidence captures the strategies providers use to prevent young people becoming disengaged and subsequently NEET.

The research will include case studies from eight local authority areas, examining how schools, post-16 providers and councils work together on prevention, transition and reengagement.

From the next academic year, researchers will interview school, college and local authority staff, alongside young people during the summer, autumn and winter terms, to track their experiences of the post-16 pathway.

A final report is expected in early to mid-2027.

College defends last minute decision to ditch A Levels

City of Liverpool College has defended its decision to cancel A Level courses on the day students expected to start enrolling.

The college announced yesterday, on GCSE results day, that it was scrapping all first-year A Level enrolments, leaving around 40 students scrambling to find a different course or place elsewhere.

A college spokesperson blamed “declining volumes” of A Level applications and “record growth” in students taking vocational and technical courses.

But according to staff speaking to local newspaper the Liverpool Echo, the timing of the announcement has left students who expected to start at City of Liverpool College in the next couple of weeks “distressed” at having to find a new school sixth form or college at short notice.

In a statement to FE Week, a college spokesperson said the decision was “not taken lightly”, with management waiting as long as possible in the hope of having more “firm enrolments”.

“At the same time that we were looking at very small numbers for A Levels, we were facing substantial waiting lists from young people wanting to study programmes directly connected to Liverpool’s future workforce needs,” they added.

“Maintaining very small A Level classes inevitably means resources cannot be deployed to accommodate young people waiting for those other opportunities.”

The college considered other factors such as overall student capacity to deliver “exceptional” teaching and learning, staff utilisation and wellbeing, and the “high level of availability” of 30 alternative A Level providers across the city.

‘A Level bias’

The college took aim at society’s “unfortunate tendency” to view A Levels as “gold standard” qualifications while technical and vocational qualifications are “somehow regarded as second best”.

Without giving any details of courses or timings of decisions, the college claimed that a decision to close some vocational courses last year due to viability was not met with a “comparable media reaction” to this week’s news.

About 40 students had applied for City of Liverpool College A Level courses this year, with about half now understood to have enrolled on “alternative qualifications”.

The college said second year A Level students would be able to finish their course and that there will not be any staff redundancies as a result of the decision.

Speaking to BBC News, principal Elaine Bowker said the City of Liverpool College is 500 “oversubscribed” in construction engineering students and 250 oversubscribed on health and social care courses.

She apologised for “causing any upset” but said staff have done their best to “put a really warm blanket” around disappointed A Level applicants to ensure they have the best advice on their next step.

University and College Union general secretary Jo Grady said students have been “badly let down” by the sudden decision to scrap A Levels.

Grady called for stable, long-term funding to help colleges respond to changes in demand without long-lasting consequences for students and communities.

She added: “A dip in applicants one year cannot justify undermining academic provision.

“The government is rightly promoting technical and vocational education, but that must not come at the expense of academic routes. Students deserve a broad choice of high-quality courses and colleges need the funding and support to provide it.”

Sign of the times?

College capacity is straining under growing pressure from a bulge in the population of 16 and 17-year-olds.

Last month, FE Week reported that colleges in West Yorkshire are turning away teenagers, with waiting lists of hundreds hoping to train as electricians, joiners and bricklayers.

But closures of A Level programmes continue to prove controversial, with staff at a London college campus striking last year over plans to ditch A Levels in favour of other level 3 courses.

According to its most recent Ofsted inspection report, from early 2024, City of Liverpool College offered 16 A Levels and had about half of its 3,500 16 to 18 students on level 3 courses.

The college, which has been run by Bowker since 2011, raised its overall effectives grade to ‘good’ in 2017, following two ‘requires improvement’ grades in the mid-2010s.

Its financial health rating is ‘outstanding’, according to the college’s latest set of accounts.

The people who assess our skills have no professional home

The Chartered Institute of Educational Assessors (CIEA) is separating from the University of Hertfordshire. For most of the sector, this will pass as administrative news. It shouldn’t. It reopens a question that further education has ducked for too long: who speaks for the people who carry out vocational assessment?

Tens of thousands of assessors and internal quality assurers work across the Regulated Qualifications Framework. They judge competence, uphold standards, and decide whether a gas engineer, a care worker or a team-leader apprentice has genuinely met the bar. They are the last line before a certificate goes out. Yet unlike almost every profession they serve, they have no professional body of their own.

Teachers have the Chartered College of Teaching. HR professionals have the CIPD (The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development). Accountants, surveyors and engineers each answer to an institution that defines their standard, protects their status and gives their expertise a name that means something. Assessors have nothing equivalent. They earn their CAVA (Certificate in Assessing Vocational Achievement) or IQA (Internal Quality Assurance) qualification, then work in professional isolation, their development shaped by whichever awarding organisation or employer happens to require it that year.

This is not a status complaint. It has practical consequences the sector feels every day.

Consider continuing professional development. An assessor who invests in genuine CPD (career professional development), updating their occupational knowledge, sharpening their questioning and keeping pace with standards reform, has nowhere neutral to record it and no recognised currency to show for it. Move employer, and the record often resets. An external quality assurer asks for evidence of competence, and the assessor rebuilds a folder from scratch. Effort that should compound instead evaporates.

Consider consistency. Assessment quality varies enormously between providers, and much of that variation traces back to how assessors were trained and how they are kept current. Where no shared professional standard sits above the qualification, no shared floor exists, and regulators end up policing outcomes that a stronger professional culture would have prevented.

At this point a fair objection arrives: assessors already hold the CAVA or equivalent, and Ofqual and the awarding organisations already regulate quality, so what exactly is missing? Neither fills the gap. A qualification certifies that someone could assess competently on the day they passed it; it does nothing to maintain that competence in the years afterwards. Regulation polices outcomes; it does not develop the people producing them, nor give them a standing that travels between employers.

A profession needs the bit in between, the part that keeps practitioners current and recognised, and that is precisely the part that no one currently owns.

So, what would a professional home for assessors need to provide? Three things, at a minimum.

First, a defined standard of practice. One built around vocational assessment as it is really done, not borrowed from academic examining. Assessing a welder on site is not the same task as moderating an exam script, and the standard should say so.

Second, portable CPD that means something. Development an assessor records once and carries between employers, and that awarding organisations and external quality assurers recognise. Recognition is what turns activity into a credential.

Third, a route to recognised status. A way for a skilled, experienced assessor to be identified as exactly that. Not through a one-off qualification sat years ago, but through demonstrated, current, ongoing competence.

None of this is exotic. Every established profession already works this way. The oddity is that assessment, the discipline whose entire job is to judge whether others meet a standard, holds itself to no organised standard of its own.

The CIEA’s change of circumstances is a prompt, not a solution. Whatever emerges from it will continue to serve educational assessment broadly. The specific community of vocational assessors and IQAs, the people making competence decisions in workshops, salons, wards and warehouses, still needs an institution built for them.

I have founded BIAP to address this gap.

The sector spends a great deal of energy worrying about the quality of assessment. It spends almost none on the professional standing of the people who deliver it. Those two problems are the same problem. Until assessors have a professional home, we should not be surprised if the quality of assessment stays as uneven as the support we give those responsible for it.

GCSE resits 2026: English and maths pass rates fall as entries surge

The proportion of post-16 students achieving a grade 4 or above in GCSE English and maths resits has fallen as entries have surged.

In maths, 15.3 per cent of 219,135 learners aged 17 and over who resat the subject in England achieved a grade 4 or above this summer.

That was down from 17.1 per cent last year, when the cohort was 6 per cent smaller at 206,732.

The grade 4 and above pass rate was 21.2 per cent in 2019, before the pandemic.

In English, 19.8 per cent of 187,558 post-16 students who resat the GCSE achieved at least a grade 4 this summer, down from 20.9 per cent last year when there were 175,118 entries.

The English pass rate was 30.3 per cent in 2019.

Despite the falling pass rates, the number of students securing a grade 4 or above increased marginally in English as the size of the cohort grew.

A total of 37,136 students gained their level 2 English GCSE this summer after failing to do so at school, compared with 36,599 last year.

But in maths, the number achieving a grade 4 or above fell, from 35,351 last year to 33,527 this summer, despite the cohort growing by 12,403 students.

Ofqual chief regulator Sir Ian Bauckham said the rise in 18- and 19-year-old entries (see breakdown below) suggested more learners were attempting to secure the qualifications for a third or fourth time.

He said there had also been a “long-term shift” away from functional skills qualifications towards GCSEs, which could be changing the makeup of the resit cohorts.

 

The results come as the government continues to face pressure over its policy of requiring 16- to 19-year-olds without a grade 4 in English and maths to continue studying the subjects.

The condition of funding rule, introduced in 2014, has been criticised by colleges for driving repeated GCSE resits.

Education secretary Lucy Powell told The Times yesterday that GCSE results day had highlighted “one of the most pernicious examples of the education system setting kids up for a cycle of failure: the number constantly resitting English and maths”.

She said she wanted to end the resit “treadmill of failure” and pointed to “stepping stone” qualifications now being developed as a way of improving results for resit students.

A consultation on new level 1 English and maths qualifications for 16- to 19-year-olds who leave school with a grade 2 or below closed in June.

The qualifications were proposed last year by the independent curriculum and assessment review, led by Becky Francis, as a way of better preparing learners to achieve a grade 4 in their post-16 GCSE resits.

Bauckham told FE Week he was “anxious” to get on with developing stepping stone qualifications as they could play a “really important part”.

Pepe Di’Iasio, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said today’s results showed that the current condition of funding policy was failing.

“This year’s post-16 resit results reinforce the fact that the government policy of then force-feeding them a relentless diet of GCSE English and maths in post-16 education is simply not working,” he said.

“Tinkering at the edges of the qualification system will not solve this problem. As long as we continue to grade students in this way in these gateway subjects of English and maths we will continue to damage their future prospects.

“If the government is serious about tackling the not in employment, education or training (NEET) crisis it must grasp this nettle and rethink how we assess English and maths.”

Gender gap narrows

More females than males continue to enter post-16 maths GCSE resits, but the gender gap in pass rates has disappeared.

This summer, 15.3 per cent of both male and female entries achieved a grade 4 or above.

Last year, 17.8 per cent of males reached the threshold, compared with 16.4 per cent of females.

In English, there continues to be more male than female entries for GCSE resits, although the gender gap in pass rates has narrowed slightly.

The proportion of male students achieving a grade 4 or above fell from 17.9 per cent last year to 16.8 per cent this summer.

Among female students, the pass rate fell from 25 per cent to 23.8 per cent.

18-19 year olds struggle the most

Students aged 18 and 19 continue to have the lowest GCSE resit pass rates, while those aged 20 and over perform significantly better.

The condition of funding rule applies to 16- to 19-year-olds, meaning older learners are not required to continue studying English and maths if they have not achieved a grade 4 and therefore are more likely to study the subjects by choice.

In maths, 16.4 per cent of 17-year-olds achieved a grade 4 or above this summer, compared with 10.4 per cent of 18-year-olds and 10.3 per cent of 19-year-olds.

Among those aged 20 and over, the pass rate was 32.5 per cent.

 

In English, some 21 per cent of 17-year-olds achieved a grade 4 or above, compared with 16.1 per cent of 18-year-olds and 15.6 per cent of 19-year-olds.

The pass rate rose to 29.6 per cent among learners aged 20 and over.