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‘apprenticeships’

Over 300 apprenticeship standards celebrated yet some attracting zero employers – FE Week investigates

Earlier this month the Institute for Apprenticeships bragged about approving standards at a faster rate than ever before after they signed off their 300th. But since then FE Week has found that over a dozen are being completely ignored by employers. When asked why this was the case, the IfA was tight-lipped and the Department […]

News

Ofsted watch: ‘Unsafe’ college makes rapid safety improvements

A specialist land-based college branded “unsafe” in a shocking grade four report in April has made swift improvements to ensure the safety and welfare of students. Moulton College, based in Northamptonshire, was hit with an ‘inadequate’ rating after Ofsted found learners were in danger when studying in areas such as construction and equine studies. It […]

News

New quality assurance rules will create a tiered apprenticeship system

The latest announcements on quality assurance of end-point assessments are a game-changer for assessment organisations – some standards will now be regulated more stringently than others, predicts Terry Fennell Things just got serious for end-point assessment organisations (EPAOs) delivering standards that are externally quality assured by Ofqual, with new enforceable rules coming into effect on […]

Opinion

Ofqual to audit EPAOs amid ‘capacity and capability’ concerns

Ofqual will soon begin auditing apprenticeship end-point assessment organisations to find out how they are mitigating risks around the capacity and capability of assessors. The exams regulator today confirmed its approach to its external quality assurance of EPAs, by publishing a final set of rules. The conditions and guidance, which come into force tomorrow, will […]

News

9 things we learned from the DfE’s annual report and accounts 2017-18

The Department for Education has this morning published its annual report, revealing payoffs, various bonuses and millions in unrecoverable debt. The accounts sets out the expenditure and performance of the department over the period April 1, 2017 to March 31, 2018. FE Week has the main findings:   1. Hinds’ ministerial direction ‘demonstrated strong commitment’ […]

News

Ofsted watch: Best and worst of FE on show

An independent specialist college showed the best of FE this week as it maintained its ‘outstanding’ rating, but the worst of the sector was also displayed when a private provider was branded ‘inadequate’. Foxes Academy, based in Somerset, was given a grade one across the board for the third time since 2007, in a report […]

News

11 things we learned from the ESFA’s first annual report and accounts

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has this afternoon published its annual report for 2017-18, revealing huge bailouts, questionable bonuses and resource issues. This is the first set of accounts for the agency, which formed last April, bringing together the Education Funding Agency and the Skills Funding Agency. FE Week has the main findings:   The […]

News

Hinds hits back at awarding organisations’ ‘deeply disappointing’ T-levels legal challenge

The education secretary has hit back at the Federation of Awarding Bodies “deeply disappointing” threat of a judicial review of T-levels, warning that it could “disrupt” their rollout. Damian Hinds vowed to press ahead with the new technical qualifications as planned, and said the proposed legal action was “unnecessary”. He told awarding organisations to “focus […]

News

Student satisfaction still highest with private providers – but colleges slightly close the gap

Colleges have slightly narrowed the gap with private training providers by 2.5 percentage points when it comes to learner satisfaction, according to new government figures. The Department for Education released the results of its 2017/18 student survey this morning, which showed overall satisfaction with all FE providers fell by nearly 2 per cent compared to […]

News