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‘apprenticeships’

Channel Four programme claims high street giant Next saved £2.5m in wages employing hundreds of low paid apprentices

High Street giant Next slashed £2.5m off its wage bill by employing hundreds of low-earning apprentices, according to a hard-hitting Channel Four programme exclusively previewed to FE Week. Apprenticeships come under scrutiny in Dispatches tomorrow night as investigators look at the wages and quality of training delivered by high-profile companies. The programme, entitled Low Pay Britain, focuses […]

News

Annual Ofsted report exposes FE maths and English issues

Ofsted deputy director for FE and skills Paul Joyce has outlined how the story of the education watchdog’s 2014/15 annual report was one of a huge rise in maths and English learners “undoubtedly” impacting upon worsening inspection grades. He spoke to FE Week moments after Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw unveiled the report, which […]

News

Sir Michael sees how ‘inequalities in funding impact on what we can do with our learners’

Phil Hatton reviews the Ofsted 2014/15 annual report and pinpoints as key its mention of how funding issues are affecting quality. Reading the learning and skills section of the Chief Inspector’s annual brought few surprises for those who have been monitoring inspections throughout last year. However, the picture painted of being ‘above’ or ‘below’ the […]

Opinion

Launch date finally set for first round of invitations to tender for Euro skills contracts

The launch date for the first round of long-overdue invitations to tender for European Social Fund (ESF) contracts has been set for Monday (December 7), FE Week can reveal. The previous 2007 to 2013 Euro skills contracts closed on July 31 and none have gone out to tender through the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) since. A […]

News

Exclusive: Lep areas revealed for first round of invitations to tender for delayed ESF contracts

These are the first areas which the will be involved in the first round of long-awaited invitations to tender for European Social Fund (ESF) contracts, FE Week can exclusively reveal. The previous 2007 to 2013 ESF contracts closed on July 31 and none have gone out to tender through the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) since. […]

News

LIVE UPDATES: FE and skills sector reacts to Ofsted 2014/15 annual report

The 2014/15 Ofsted annual report painted a picture of an FE and skills sector in which two years of improvement came to a near-halt last academic year — and general FE colleges even saw a “decline” in performance. Click here for more of the report, which was launched at 10am, while sector responses to Ofsted’s findings can […]

News

College performance ‘has declined’ – Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw’s annual report

Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw has told how he has “seen the pace of improvement slow” in FE and skills — picking out general FE colleges in particular as where “performance has declined”. English and maths commitments, finances and falling standards in leadership were among the issues for colleges identified by the education watchdog’s chief […]

News

Local authorities come under the FE Week 2015/16 adult apprenticeship allocations spotlight

The exclusive front page story of edition 154 on low levels of apprenticeship delivery among colleges promised more analysis. And so while last week’s coverage expanded on this to feature apprenticeship allocations for all general FE colleges, this week it’s the turn of local authorities (LAs). Dr Sue Pember, director of policy and external relations […]

News

Good news in Budget — but what does it mean for learners?

Sandra McNally considers the possible impact of Chancellor George Osborne’s November 25 Budget. The Spending Review has brought good news to FE (at least relative to expectations). Highlights include a commitment to protect the budget for 16 to 19-year-olds in cash terms; an apprenticeship levy on large employers, with a commitment to spend £2.5bn in […]

Opinion