York College
‘ofsted watch’
A national training provider has plummeted from an Ofsted outstanding rating to inadequate, while employer provider Next has also been told its apprenticeships aren’t up to scratch in inspection reports published today. The education watchdog also found that the Marine Society College of the Sea had made “reasonable progress” since getting a grade four in November. […]
News
An Oldham training provider has rejected accusations from Ofsted that it was taking on apprentices who did not wish to be trained, but were forced onto the programme by employers. Blue Training UK, previously rated good, was slapped with an inadequate ratings across the headline fields by the education watchdog following a visit last month, with inspectors criticising […]
Gateshead College has shot up two Ofsted grades to outstanding while Weymouth College is making “significant” improvements as it rebuilds from an inadequate rating. Gateshead was visited by the education watchdog last month and inspectors found a dramatic turnaround since it was deemed to require improvement three years ago. Meanwhile, Weymouth was monitored for progress in four […]
Careers advice, the government’s 3m apprenticeship target and impact of the FE funding cuts were at the top of list for the House of Lords social mobility committee in inaugural hearing. The committee, chaired by Lady Corston (pictured above), was set up to investigate the transition between school and work, and what happens to young […]
A failed College of Food interview at the tender age of 16 had a defining effect on Paul Eeles, chief executive of Emfec (called, once-upon-a-time, the East Midlands FE Council). Having left school “with just a clutch of CSEs”, he was at the specialist college — now a part of University College Birmingham — hoping […]
Profiles
New regional scrutiny committees will consider complaints about Ofsted from September as the education watchdog acts to address transparency criticisms. The eight bodies, each made up of an Ofsted official not involved in inspections along with an “external” provider leader put forward by “appropriate national representative bodies”, will rule on internal reviews of complaints about […]
Ofsted is ending its system of graded lesson observation. It’s a subject that leant itself to the theme a conference on June 17 at the University of Wolverhampton’s Centre for Research and Development in Lifelong Education (Cradle). Dr Lorna Page was there and outlines the event. The first national conference dedicated to the issue of […]
Opinion
Former Education Secretary Lord Baker is celebrating the first outstanding grade from Ofsted for his university technical college (UTC) project with a glowing inspection report for UTC Reading. The report on the UTC, which opened in 2013 specialising in science and engineering for 14 to 19-year-olds and is listed as a school by the education watchdog, is […]
Colleges which are good at “what they do on a daily basis” should not prepare for inspection under Ofsted’s reformed regime, the watchdog’s head of FE and skills has said. Ofsted director Lorna Fitzjohn told delegates at the launch of the new common inspection framework (CIF) and short inspections regime that those FE providers already […]
