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‘ofqual’

Exams watchdog launches fee probe

Ofqual is investigating exam spending by colleges after its annual report found payments by schools had more than doubled in ten years, from £154m in 2002/3 to £328m in 2010/11. Between 2006/7 and 2010/11 the number of different qualifications available schools and colleges also rose by almost 10,000, from 8,150 to 18,100. Much of the […]

News

Exam papers to be marked in India

A leading FE awarding body’s decision to send exam papers to India to be marked could hit standards, Unison’s head of colleges has warned. Christine Lewis questioned City & Guilds’ plans to scan and then electronically send thousands of functional skills papers abroad. “It is sad if this initiative is about using cheap labour, at […]

News

Award cull comes ‘with no warning’

Surprise plans that could end government funding for around 1,600 qualifications might hit the job hopes of thousands of struggling learners, it has been claimed. Graham Hasting-Evans, managing director of the National Open College Network (NOCN) awarding body, said he feared unemployed students could see courses stopped as a result of the plans, which he […]

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An ‘end-to-end’ professional development

The Credit Services Association is determined that debt collection become an industry with real career prospects, writes Stephen Morley Debt is set to top the agenda for some time to come. Therefore, it is paramount that talented youngsters are attracted into the credit services industry and that those involved in collecting debt are recognised as […]

Opinion

Providers to get transitional funding protection from new system

Providers are to be protected from potentially huge drops in funding when a new payments regime is introduced from August. The Skills Funding Agency exclusively told FE Week that “transitional protection” would be in place for the new adult funding system after research showed the value of many qualification would fall by more than 20 […]

News

SFA warned over plans to stop qualifications funding

The Skills Funding Agency “risks destabilising the system” with plans to stop paying out for more than 1,000 qualifications, it has been claimed. The Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB) hit out at the agency over its moves to “rationalise the publicly funded offer for adults for 2013/14”. It could result in the end of agency […]

News

Government acts on ‘conflict of interest’

The government has set up a Skills Funding Agency-led review to look into the issue of potential conflicts of interest where awarding organisations also deliver education, FE Week can reveal. Ofqual, the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS) and the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) are also on board in a task and finish group […]

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Critics hit out at A-level reform plans

FE groups across the sector have condemned education secretary Michael Gove’s proposal to overhaul A-levels. Mr Gove said from 2015 pupils will take exams at the end of two-year courses with AS-levels remaining but as stand-alone exams. A group of leading universities will play a bigger role in maintaining standards. But various teaching associations and […]

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No more funding for qualifications, warns SFA

Providers and employers could be set to lose funding for qualifications in a clampdown on awarding organisations that don’t register to an official learner record service. The Skills Funding Agency wants all Ofqual-recognised awarding organisations to sign the Personal Learning Record (PLR) Awarding Organisation Agreement. It told them all in September last year they had […]

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