York College
‘ofsted’
A college that has bounced back from a grade four to a grade two is leading the charge on a week that has been good almost across the board. Stanmore College was applauded for its “rapid and significant improvement” since it received the lowest possible grade in September 2015, in a report published March 6 […]
News
Your weekly guide to who’s new, and who’s leaving Lucy Maggs has been appointed assistant principal at Callywith College in Cornwall. The new college is due to open in September in association with Truro and Penwith College, where she currently works as a programme team leader for student services. She will share the assistant principal […]
Movers and Shakers
The government is considering a change in legislation to protect learners left in loans debt after their providers go bust, in a move that would mark an early victory for FE Week’s #SaveOurAdultEducation campaign. We have been demanding justice for hundreds of learners who have recently been left with thousands of pounds of student loans […]
Yet another training provider has gone bust, leaving dozens more blameless learners left with plenty of loans debt but no qualifications to show for it. Focus Training & Development Ltd, a Darlington-based training provider with a £1.5 million allocation from the Skills Funding Agency, went into liquidation on November 29 last year. It closed soon […]
The UK’s strict redundancy laws may have been breached when one of the largest apprenticeship providers in England unexpectedly called in the administrators last week, according to a major union. First4Skills, which received £15 million every year to run apprenticeships, told around 200 ‘shocked’ staff on Friday, March 3 that it was closing down. Now […]
The levy will force charities to create new apprenticeships or lose the money to private business, which raises ethical issues, says Steve Woolcock This year’s national apprenticeship week will be the last before the apprenticeship levy kicks in on 1 April. As the day draws nearer, many large organisations have been preparing to deal with […]
Opinion
One of the largest apprenticeship providers in England has called in the administrators after the Skills Funding Agency terminated their contract, FE Week has learned. First4Skills, which holds an annual £15m apprenticeship allocation and is 60 percent owned by City of Liverpool College, this afternoon told around 200 ‘shocked’ staff to pack their belongings and leave. It is […]
A local authority provider has leapt two grades from inadequate to good and an independent training provider has received a grade two on its first inspection in this week’s Ofsted reports. But otherwise ‘requires improvement’ has been the main story of the week. West Sussex County Council was praised for its progress since it was […]
Colleges and training providers are hiding banned subcontracting through the use of so-called ‘associate partnerships’, FE Week can reveal – potentially allowing millions of pounds-worth of public funds to change hands without proper scrutiny. A recent Ofsted report has for the first time listed “training provided by an associate partner” as an arrangement not “sanctioned […]
