York College
‘apprenticeships’
The Student Loans Company is continuing to process FE loans for apprenticeships while it awaits government orders that the system has been “dropped”. A loans company spokesperson said today, as new figures showed just 569 apprenticeship loan applications were made in nine months, the system was still operating despite Business Secretary Vince Cable exclusively telling […]
News
Business Secretary Vince Cable has exclusively confirmed to FE Week that the government is “dropping” the troubled 24+ advanced learning loans system for apprenticeships. With just 404 applications in around seven months, he “accepted” the system had failed, but said non-apprentice FE loans would remain. It comes just days after FE Week reported how the […]
Troubled K College has been put into administered status after becoming the first college to come under scrutiny from the FE Commissioner following the damning Ofsted report, published this morning. Skills Minister Matthew Hancock sent in commissioner David Collins and his team of advisers to review the college before the education watchdog’s report, which resulted in […]
Local employer needs are not being met by the FE and skills sector, according to this year’s Ofsted annual report. Despite higher expectations of students and improved teaching and learning providing “grounds for optimism” about the sector, it was delivering “too much provision that is not responsive to local employment needs”. “This provision is therefore […]
The Ofsted director of FE and skills spoke with FE Week deputy editor at the launch of the education watchdog’s 2012/13 annual report. Chris Henwood: The report mentions an initial evaluation of 16 to 19 programmes. Will that come as part of inspections, or will you be doing something separate? Matthew Coffey: I am always […]
Any preconceived idea that adult literacy and numeracy in the UK was a source of pride will have been seriously questioned over the past year. Harvey Young examines how a nation might improve its English and maths. This has been a year of turmoil for education. You might argue that the upheaval has been no […]
Opinion
How do you take industry expertise into the learning environment while retaining that practical, everyday sector knowledge? It’s an issue that has been looked at recently and Jenny Williams wants to hear from FE and skills providers where such issues have been overcome. There has been much discussion in the last few weeks about ‘line […]
A former Welsh international footballer is one of four men to have been disqualified from being company directors after their sports apprenticeship firm submitted invalid funding claims. Mark Aizlewood (pictured), aged 54, who played for Wales 39 times between 1986 and 1994, was barred from directorships for six years for failing to comply with apprenticeship […]
The troubled 24+ advanced learning loans system for apprenticeships could be axed after just 404 people applied for funding since April’s launch, FE Week can reveal. The future of the system is, according to an FE Week source, being “considered” by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Latest figures, released last month, showed […]