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‘ofsted’
Why is UTC Reading successful while other colleges are shutting or struggling? It has a grade one Ofsted rating, but that’s only one secret to its success If Lord Kenneth Baker could take a blueprint for the beleaguered university technical college (UTC) and multiply it across the country, it’s likely that he would choose UTC […]
Feature
Dr Chris Jones sets out the focus of the watchdog’s new framework, which will be in place from September It is always a great pleasure to attend, deliver workshops and speak at the AELP conference, especially now, as we all prepare for the new inspection framework that comes in this September. The new Ofsted framework […]
Opinion
An Ofsted grade two provider has hit out at the government’s “farcical” process for reapplying to the register of apprenticeship training providers, after its bid was rejected on a technicality. According to the guidelines, providers can be exempt from filling out some parts of the application if they have received a short Ofsted inspection confirming […]
News
A university technical college stood out this week for the right reasons – it was rated ‘good’ in its first ever inspection. General FE colleges didn’t reach the same heights, with two large college groups dropping to ‘requires improvement’ while another received a second consecutive ‘inadequate’ report. UTC Warrington was given a grade two after […]
One of the biggest college groups in the country has said it has “no alternative” than to cut staff numbers as it battles to cut its deficit, knowing it will “no longer be ‘bailed out’ by the government”. The RNN Group, which has around 1,200 staff and nearly 15,000 students, has put 130 jobs at […]
Something of a surprise this week from the Department for Education – a press release about traineeships in which the skills minister, Anne Milton, was “thrilled”. The surprise for me wasn’t the good news – that research found the majority of the first trainees in 2014 progressed into work or further training. The surprise was […]
The co-founder of a disgraced training provider that is subject to an ongoing police investigation has launched a new consultancy firm that “specialises” in schools growth and apprenticeship levy strategy. Peter Marples (pictured) stepped away from Aspire Achieve Advance (3aaa) in September in the midst of a second government investigation into the firm, which he […]
A college has announced plans to cut its staff numbers by 10 per cent, months after the FE Commissioner reported it was in a “cash crisis”. Fifty one full-time jobs out of a total of 466 are expected to go at Northumberland College, which was graded as ‘requires improvement’ by Ofsted before merging with Sunderland […]
The race to decide the next Association of Colleges president has taken another turn, after the challenger candidate pulled out – on the last day of voting. Trafford College Group principal Lesley Davies had been the only challenger to incumbent AoC president Steve Frampton. However, owing to “personal reasons”, she has withdrawn. “Due to personal […]
