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‘ofsted’

Elmfield staff ‘still in dark’ on future as administration looms

Hundreds of Elmfield Training staff could still be in the dark about their futures more than a week after it announced that directors had “taken steps to protect the company through an administration process”. As FE Week went to press there had been no further public statement from the firm, thought to have more than […]

News

Agency strips provider of £2.5m contract

A Lancashire-based training provider has been stripped of its £2.5m Skills Funding Agency contract following a damning Ofsted grading and monitoring visit. Training for Travel (TfT) an independent provider offering workplace training in the travel sector to more than 2,000 learners, was deemed inadequate across the board by the education watchdog, following an inspection in […]

News

SFA notice at City Coventry College remains despite ‘progress’

The Skills Funding Agency will not remove City College Coventry’s Notice of Concern, despite Ofsted ruling it had made “reasonable progress” since its damning grade four inspection result. The college received inadequate ratings across the board when it was inspected in March, but a monitoring visit carried out last month by the education watchdog found […]

News

Government publishes its ‘radical and far-reaching’ apprenticeship plan

The government has this morning confirmed in a newly-published implementation plan that it would put apprenticeship design in England in the hands of employers. And the skills minister, Matthew Hancock, went further, saying: “It will also provide a blueprint for wider reform in vocational education.” The plan comes at a difficult time for the programme with a major […]

News

Fresh concerns raised over Barnfield College

Teaching unions have raised further concerns about the governance and management of a troubled college which is being investigated by the government. The National Union of Teachers (NUT) has written to Ofsted about Barnfield College, in Bedfordshire, in the same week as the Skills Funding Agency and the Department for Education confirmed they were investigating allegations that are being […]

News

Self-improvement in an age of reduced resources

Self-improvement, not improvement, is the order of the day for new FE body the Education and Training Foundation it has been said. Andrew Morris discusses the practicalities this might entail. Leaders of colleges judged outstanding by Ofsted inspectors say it can take four years to embed real and lasting change in the institution, its teachers […]

Opinion

College hit with ‘poor financial management’ claim

An allegation of poor financial management at a Bedfordshire college, along with concerns about “extensive” staff restructuring and redundancies, has been passed onto Education Secretary Michael Gove. There are also worries about  “a lack of joint working with the local authority” at Barnfield College, according to two local MPs. Gavin Shuker, Luton South, and Kelvin Hopkins, Luton North, […]

News

Ofsted director Coffey wins praise for prison talk

Prison education and training came under the spotlight last week in a critical speech by Ofsted’s FE and skills director Matthew Coffey. But he also made a number of recommendations that have earned him praise from Rod Clark. A grading of good, or maybe even outstanding, to Matthew Coffey for highlighting the need to improve […]

Opinion

Escaping the prison education past

Prisons came under fire in a speech by Ofsted’s FE and skills director Matthew Coffey, who pointed out how not one of the 78 prisons inspected since 2009 had been graded as outstanding. His criticisms held little, if anything, for Dr Paul Philips to disagree with. My own college won a contract to deliver offender […]

Opinion