York College
‘ofsted’
Learndirect’s Adult Education Budget “wind-down” allocation value to July 2018 hangs in the balance, after they failed to tender for funding, FE Week can exclusively reveal. Based on a government contracting presentation (see image below) their AEB allocation should now automatically fall from £60m last year to under £1m, or £589,148 to be exact. FE […]
News
Over 40,000 more students may need to resit their English GCSE next year than did this year, after failing to achieve the required grade 4 in the reformed exams. There should be slightly fewer resits overall in maths, however. Just under 160,000 pupils scored below the grade 4 threshold – equivalent to a D or […]
A legal challenge brought against the government by the Association of Colleges over the opening of a small-school sixth form last year has cost the tax payer over £75,000, FE Week can reveal. According to a Freedom of Information we submitted to the Department for Education in July, it paid out a huge £60,000 for […]
Even Learndirect’s own membership body, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers, has demanded a full explanation of how the government will protect current and future students. The Department for Education admitted this week it will continue to fund the nation’s biggest FE provider for current and new students until July 31, 2018, following its ‘inadequate’ […]
Ofsted has hit the headlines over the publication of its damning grade four-overall verdict on FE giant Learndirect – during a week which also saw another provider slump to ‘inadequate’. Reports into both UK Training and Development Limited and Learndirect Limited were published on August 17, and were both based on inspections carried out almost […]
The strange case of Learndirect’s long-awaited ‘inadequate’ grade shows that providers in this country are not created equal, argues former Ofsted HMI Phillip Hatton The history of Learndirect is interesting when you consider what it is today. Almost 20 years ago, I was sent to a launch event with Dr Anne Wright, the first chief […]
Opinion
Ofsted has this morning published their inspection report for Learndirect, the largest training provider in the UK. Download here. This follows a failed legal bid by Learndirect to quash the grade four report, and FE Week’s successful overturning of a gagging order. Ofsted observed in their report that “directors and senior managers failed to take […]
The Department for Education has remained silent over why a college with a grade four for its apprenticeship provision has not been removed from the register of apprenticeship training providers. St Helens College received the lowest possible grade for its provision in an Ofsted report published on June 16, just three months after it was […]
Former publicly-owned FE giant Learndirect recently lost a High Court battle to quash an ‘inadequate’ rating from Ofsted, which could prove devastating for its very existence. FE Week has spoken to major players in its 2011 privatisation, including Vince Cable, who was ultimately responsible for a sale considered by Labour, before Ofsted’s full report is […]