York College
‘ofsted’
A former Skills Funding Agency manager has accused the government of “stalling” the training industry at a time of national crisis. Martin Taft, who is now the managing director of Midlands-based Springboard Training, said the suspension of the Register of Apprenticeship Training Providers (RoATP) in April has prevented new providers from offering support during the […]
News
Ofsted will soon be handed powers to inspect all universities that offer apprenticeships – including the likes of Cambridge, FE Week can reveal. In a controversial move, the education watchdog is set to take on responsibility for overseeing all apprenticeships, including those at the degree levels of 6 and 7, for the first time. Only […]
On 17 January 2020, FE Week was first to report that the government was working on new legislation in the form of an FE Bill, which “could mean colleges lose ultimate power over deciding which courses are run”. Four days later, on the 21 January, Amanda Spielman, Ofsted’s chief inspector, gave a speech in which […]
Opinion
Colleges should be forced to surrender their powers to decide what courses they run to new, local FE directors, a report published today from a former adviser to education ministers has said. Think tank EDSK’s director Tom Richmond has today launched ‘Further consideration: Creating a new role, purpose and direction for the FE sector’, which […]
For the first time Ofsted is exploring a move to directly inspect all FE subcontractors, something until now it has ruled out. Subcontracting in FE is big business, with 2,221 subcontracting arrangements at 856 subcontractors accounting for “around 14 per cent of the spending on apprenticeships and adult education” in 2018/19, according to Ofsted. The […]
Staff have been told that they must fill junior executive vacancies with apprentices, as part of a three-month trial in the Department for Education and Education and Skills Funding Agency. Skills minister Gillian Keegan said the change in recruitment policy was to show that “we practise what we preach” when it comes to boosting the […]
The first new university technical college to open its doors for two years has been deluged with students, while its licensing body says that admissions across the network have shot up after years of underrecruitment. Doncaster UTC has vastly exceeded its recruitment target of 160 students, with nearly double that number starting lessons this week. […]
The FE sector should judge the quality of their training programmes on the jobs that learners end up in, skills minister Gillian Keegan has said. Her comment comes a day after Association of Colleges boss David Hughes told the education select committee that college funding should shift to be based on outcome for students, rather […]
Ofsted has today published further details about how their “interim visits” of FE providers will work this autumn. The watchdog stressed these will not be routine inspections and will not result in a judgement grade. The guidance follows an announcement in July that Ofsted would use a phased return to routine inspections, following a pause […]
