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‘ofsted’

Cash-strapped college reveals shock deficit on the same day insolvency regime goes live

A cash-strapped college’s 2017/18 accounts have revealed a £5 million deficit, on the same day that the insolvency regime came into force. The massive shortfall at North Hertfordshire College is 20 times higher than was budgeted at the beginning of the year, and twice what was predicted just two months before the end of the […]

News

ESFA delays European Social Fund contracts due to alleged breach of tender rules

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has delayed issuing European Social Fund contracts after multiple providers who lost out in a recent procurement alleged that the government broke tender rules. Winning bidders from the exercise, which was worth £282 million in total, were supposed to be awarded their contracts on Tuesday following a 10-day standstill […]

News

Starts suspended at mysterious apprenticeship provider after ESFA launches investigation

The Education and Skills Funding Agency has suspended starts at an apprenticeship firm with multimillion-pound subcontracting deals while it investigates the provider, following revelations in FE Week about its shady set-up. SCL Security Ltd, a private provider based in Kent that is run by Andrew Merritt, has taken £16.5 million from Brooklands College in Surrey […]

News

Ofsted watch: Promising week for new apprenticeship providers

It’s been a promising week for new apprenticeship providers, with only one ‘insufficient progress’ finding from six monitoring visits. One of the reports, for LDN Apprenticeships Ltd, even scored a clean sweep of ‘significant progress’ findings. Inspectors found that the provider’s managers “use progress tracking systems and frequent discussions with the provider’s learning and development […]

News

Great debate on AEB devolution: will it be a successful policy?

The motion: This House believes the devolution of the £1.5bn adult education budget will prove to be a successful policy More than 150 FE sector leaders came to the Houses of Parliament on Monday, January 28, for the third FE Week-Pearson Great Debate. The previous two debates were on apprenticeship reforms (July) and T-levels (September). […]

News

Flagship UTC received huge DfE bailout after being stung by apprenticeship funding cuts

A flagship university technical college had to be bailed out by the government with a £650,000 loan, after being stung by funding rate cuts and delays to its apprenticeship programme. FE Week reported last week that the JCB Academy – the first UTC to open, in 2010 – was one of six 14 to 19 […]

News

Ofsted watch: Up-and-down week for FE

It’s been an up-and-down week for the FE sector, which saw a return of three ‘good’ ratings, but two ‘insufficient’ monitoring reports. There was also disappointment for five other providers that got grade three reports, including a grade one college falling two ratings. Holy Cross College in Manchester has improved on its last inspection, going […]

News

It’s time FE learnt to embrace the embarrassing

So the news isn’t good. Treat it as a chance to be open about your problems, to value others’ points of view and to listen and improve, says Ruth Sparkes We’re all aware that it’s a tricky time for FE; the spending review is rolling ever closer, the sector has been financially starved for years, […]

Opinion

Will the new Ofsted framework work for FE?

Frank Coffield steals Ofsted’s language to grade last week’s new inspection framework How do FE and Skills (FE&S) fare in the new inspection framework? I’ve inspected the proposals from the perspective of FE&S and provide formative feedback using Ofsted’s grading scale and language. First, its strengths. The handbook is much shorter than its predecessor, but […]

Opinion