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‘ofsted’

Hancock to divert cash to employers

Apprenticeships are to be funded through employers, Skills Minister Matthew Hancock announced at the Association of Colleges (AoC) conference on Tuesday. Mr Hancock said the move was part of a wider strategy to reform the FE system “to support high expectations”. “That includes… putting the funding for apprenticeships through employers so they can demand the […]

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Ofsted clash on work experience

Further education leaders clashed with Ofsted over whether students needed work experience outside of their colleges. The exchange took place during a packed debate at the Association of Colleges annual conference on November 20, chaired by FE Week editor Nick Linford and sponsored by NCFE, on new study programmes for 16 to 19-year-olds. Panelist Asha […]

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On location at the Skills Show ­­– FE Week team out and about

From Birmingham in 2013 to Brazil in 2015 Around 700 talented young people competed to be crowned the best in the UK at this year’s Skills Show. The event, in its second year, plays host to a series of sector competitions to find the UK’s best young craftsmen and women with the aim of getting […]

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Stockport goes from grade one to four

A 9,000-learner college in Greater Manchester has plummeted from an outstanding Ofsted rating to inadequate. Stockport College achieved the highest possible rating six years ago, but fell to grade four this month following a visit by the education watchdog last month. The college, which has a current Skills Funding Agency allocation of £8.1m, was hit […]

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Gill Alton, principal, Rotherham College of Arts and Technology

Rotherham College of Arts and Technology had never been graded higher than a level three by Ofsted inspectors before Gillian Alton arrived. But the institution achieved its first good inspection result this summer, three years after she was appointed principal. “It’s just fantastic news that it’s now good,” says Doncaster-born Alton. Given that the college […]

Profiles

Last piece of Elmfield sold off to NCG

The last piece of troubled provider Elmfield has been sold off after the company went into administration last month. Fifty staff who had delivered the provider’s apprenticeships for supermarket giant Morrisons have been taken on by NCG (formerly Newcastle College Group) to see out the contract. It had already taken on the contract for new […]

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Lack of progress on ‘bullying’

A Peterborough-based provider made “insufficient progress” in protecting the welfare of its learners and preventing bullying and abuse, Ofsted has found. The education watchdog slapped the National Farriery Training Agency (NFTA) with a grade four inspection result in February after finding evidence of “bullying” and “abuse” of farriery apprentices. Inspectors said learners’ on-the-job supervisors, or […]

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Arbitration judge clears ‘ruined’ provider over fraud allegations

A Berkshire provider left in ruins after the Skills Funding Agency terminated its contract amid allegations of fraud has been cleared by an arbitration judge. The agency severed its funding of NTQUK in March last year, saying it had “not submitted the requisite evidence” to support funding claims. The move resulted in almost the entire […]

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Powerful new FE Commissioner announced

A former principal and ex-president of the Association of Colleges has been appointed as the government’s first FE Commissioner. Dr David Collins CBE, also a former interim chief executive of the Learning and Skills Improvement Service, will take the new troubleshooter post which comes with the power to call for the closure of failing colleges. […]

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