York College
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Three providers have been criticised for making ‘insufficient progress’ in the latest series of monitoring reports from Ofsted, including a recently merged college. But it was ‘good’ news for one independent specialist college, which retained a grade two. Coventry College, which was formed in August last year out of a merger of the grade three […]
News
With an initial 2014/15 contract value of £3.1m, 3aaa was a relatively small apprenticeship provider when it received its first Ofsted inspection in October 2014. The resulting ‘outstanding’ grade proved a catalyst for very rapid growth with help from the ESFA in the form of funding increases to an allocation of £31m less than two […]
Opinion
Ofsted delayed inspecting the beleaguered Aspire Achieve Advance for years despite its achievement rates plummeting when apprentice numbers nearly quadrupled and severe safeguarding concerns were brought forward by a whistleblower. An FE Week investigation has uncovered the serious failing by the education watchdog, which has now come under fire from chair of the influential Public […]
Beleaguered apprenticeship giant Aspire Achieve Advance has put itself up for sale with the government’s backing. The decision has been made following a suspension on its recruitment while an Education and Skills Funding Agency investigation is carried out into the company’s achievement rates. It is the second government investigation into the provider in the last […]
Grade three or four colleges that merge can expect to receive a monitoring visit before their first full inspection, Ofsted has confirmed today. The clarification, which applies to mergers from January 2018 onwards, follows criticism that poor-performing colleges had been able to get away without any Ofsted scrutiny following a merger. According to the FE […]
The further education sector plays an important role in England’s education system. In 2017/18, the country’s 266 colleges provided education and training to 300,000 apprentices, 600,000 young people aged 16 to 18, and 1.4 million adults. However, it has also received an average 30 per cent funding cut from 2009 to 2019 and staffing levels […]
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Crisis-hit Aspire Achieve Advance was given a £7 million apprenticeships contract increase two years ago despite an investigation that found dozens of funding and success rate “overclaims”, FE Week can reveal. In recent weeks the apprenticeship giant has come under heavy scrutiny after its co-founders resigned and the Education and Skills Funding Agency suspended it […]
A major financial services training provider has been found to ‘require improvement’, in the only full FE and skills inspection report published this week. Elsewhere, an apprenticeships and adult learning provider was found to be making ‘insufficient progress’ in three themes under review, in a follow-up monitoring visit report. Kaplan Financial, which works with more […]
Ofsted has been left red-faced after carrying out the wrong kind of monitoring visit and incorrectly publishing a report, before quickly deleting it. Inspectors visited Wiltshire Council’s adult and community learning service on July 7 this year, after the provision was given a grade three rating by Ofsted in December 2017. A letter detailing the […]
