York College
‘ofsted’
Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw told the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee today that government should do more on promoting vocational routes. He appeared in front of the committee flanked by his chief operating officer, Matthew Coffey (pictured below right), to give evidence on the role of the education watchdog in providing skills and employment […]
News
Prime Minister David Cameron today called on businesses to back the apprenticeship levy — only for Tesco chief executive Dave Lewis to later warn how it would “wipe out” the supermarket giant’s entire annual training budget. Mr Lewis (pictured above) issued the warning as he called for a “balance to be struck” between allowing firms to […]
Association for Learning Technology chief executive Dr Maren Deepwell (pictured above left) will be among a number of witnesses giving evidence to MPs investigating the digital economy tomorrow. It will come the day before Ofsted boss Sir Michael Wilshaw (pictured above right) is due before the House of Lords Social Mobility Committee. The House of […]
A Midland college has incurred the wrath of local dog walkers with its response to Ofsted safeguarding advice to improve grounds security. Warwickshire College Group (WCG) group was rated as good by Ofsted in April — but inspectors said “access to their sites needs to be more secure”. They also said managers at the 14,500-learner […]
The National Audit Office (NAO) will investigate quality concerns over the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills’ (BIS) drive towards 3m new apprenticeships by 2020. The NAO announced today (November 6) that it will publish a report on apprenticeships in spring next year. A spokesperson said: “They are a key element of the government’s plans […]
When high street jeweller Gerald Ratner famously rubbished one of his products a few years ago, his ill-judged comments resulted in Britain’s biggest jewellery group plunging £122.3m into the red with 330 shops in Britain and the United States closing. I’m sure Ofsted chief inspector Sir Michael Wilshaw, when rubbishing ‘cleaning’ and ‘coffee-making’ apprenticeships, did […]
Opinion
The FE Commissioner was sent in to Stratford-Upon-Avon College after the Skills Funding Agency (SFA) rated its financial health as inadequate. Nicola Mannock outlines the actions taken on the commissioner’s advice. Following a year of exceptionally hard work by my dedicated and committed team, Stratford-upon-Avon College is now, as reported by FE Week, officially out […]
The impact technology has on learners is more important to Ofsted than the technology itself, a former inspector told delegates at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers’ Learning Technologies Expo 2015. Kerry Boffey (pictured above), director of the Adult Learning Improvement Network, said providers needed to think about what technology “will do for learners”. […]
The results of the first Ofsted short inspection of a good provider were positive for the Cheshire college visited — but fears have emerged that it was “more of a case of how much you can cram in within two days”. The 4,100-learner Riverside College, in Widnes, was the first FE provider to experience the […]
