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‘ofsted’

Education secretary disagrees with Ofsted and not blaming colleges for ‘false hope’ job prospects

Damian Hinds has said he would “not blame colleges at all” in the way that Amanda Spielman did for putting students on courses such as arts and media which have slim job prospects. The chief inspector told the Association of Colleges conference last month that there is a “mismatch” between the numbers of students taking […]

News

Don’t play the blame game over the Baker clause

The lack of information about A-level alternatives will not be solved by cajoling schools into compliance, says Kevin Gilmartin. Instead, what is needed is an understanding of what is holding back any progress or solution There’s frustration in the corridors of Whitehall and among colleges and training providers over the perceived failings of schools to […]

Opinion

Apprenticeships starts down nearly a quarter last year

Apprenticeship numbers fell by almost a quarter last year compared to the year before, according to final figures published by the Department for Education this morning.  There were 375,800 apprenticeship starts in 2017/18, a drop of 118,600 – or 24 per cent – on 2016/17’s total of 494,400, and a decrease of 26 per cent […]

News

DfE urgently seeking answers to why level two apprenticeships fell by 38%

The Department for Education is urgently seeking to “improve understanding” of what’s behind the drop in level two apprenticeships, as the latest statistics show numbers have fallen by more than a third in the space of a year. There were just 161,400 starts at level two in 2017/18, according to the final apprenticeship figures for […]

News

Interserve denies 5,000+ apprentices will go the way of Carillion

Even as the fallout from Carillion’s collapse engrossed the nation, another outsourcing giant which trains over 5,000 apprentices also had financial concerns highlighted. Interserve, an international support services and construction group which runs a large UK training provider called Interserve Learning and Employment Ltd, employs over 80,000 staff worldwide and has an annual turnover of […]

News

Over ‘optimistic’ leaders drag council down to ‘inadequate’

A council has received the lowest possible rating for its adult and community learning provision after leadership and management was found to be ‘inadequate’ by Ofsted. Despite being rated as ‘requires improvement’ in every other area, North East Lincolnshire Council has been left with an overall ‘inadequate’ grade after inspectors warned leaders had been “too […]

News

Ofsted understands the challenges for further education

From funding problems to T-levels and the apprenticeship levy, Ofsted seems to have a good handle on the main challenges for further education, says David Hughes It was nice knowing, as I travelled to the annual presentation from the chief inspector of Ofsted, that I was going to hear reasoned, calm and evidence-based views on […]

Opinion

Skills minister will ‘look at whether it is right to continue to fund all apprenticeships’

The skills minister has said she will “look at whether it is right” for the government to “continue to fund all apprenticeships”. Anne Milton made the remarks as part of a wide-ranging video interview with Association of Colleges’ boss David Hughes this afternoon, after she was unable to stay for questions at the association’s annual […]

News

Ofsted figures reveal it is the new private providers letting the sector down

The drop in the percentage of training providers rate good by Ofsted is a direct consequence of the government’s sloppy approach to approving new providers, says Mark Dawe Now that the cat is out of the bag on the true state of levy funding, it is very useful to have Ofsted’s input on where the […]

Opinion