York College
‘ofsted’
Traineeships are to be exempted from a benefits rule that was “compromising” the programme. The Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) 16-hour rule, which limits the amount of time Job Seeker’s Allowance (JSA) claimants can train every week, will no longer apply to traineeships — the government’s flagship youth unemployment policy. The move came as […]
News
Kwik Fit has stopped running its controversial traineeship programme after Ofsted inspectors said it was no longer an outstanding employer provider. Only providers rated as outstanding or good (grade one or two, respectively) can run traineeships — the government’s flagship youth unemployment policy, which launched in August for 16 to 23-year-olds. And inspectors gave Kwik […]
Problems with new Skills Funding Agency (SFA) software continue to trouble FE staff as they prepare to attempt submitting key recruitment information by 6pm tomorrow (Thursday, December 5). Known as the R04 submission, the data could be used by the Education and Funding Agency and SFA for both funding and performance management purposes. Ian Pryce […]
Opinion
After an exhausting few days, Association of Colleges chief executive Martin Doel shared his thoughts with FE Week editor Nick Linford. The pair talked all things conference in a 45-minute webinar, sponsored by Tribal. Here are some of the key moments. Nick Linford: So, we heard from the president of the Association of Colleges, Michele […]
Colleges run their own ‘business’ to allow learners to gain experience and 157 Group executive director Lynne Sedgemore said last week that such ventures could be seen as providing a realistic taste of the workplace. However, Iain Mackinnon says they are too few and far between to offer a viable alternative to experience of a […]
Former House of Commons Education Select Committee specialist Ben Nicholls is head of policy and communications at London’s Newham College. He writes exclusively for FE Week every month. A year ago, when I was appointed to Newham College, I didn’t know all that much about FE (it’s okay, I said so at my interview — […]
Despite passing the 11-plus, Mark Brickley says he wasn’t a particularly academic child. For reasons neither he nor his 81-year-old father, Derek, can recall, he chose not go to grammar school. So when he left school at 16, the year of the Falklands War “and when unemployment was through the roof,” he was keen to […]
Profiles
Uptake on the government’s flagship traineeship scheme is failing to reach expectations, according to senior FE figures. It is too soon for Ofsted to report on the quality of traineeships in any detail… Skills Funding Agency boss Keith Smith (pictured) said colleges would deliver 57 per cent of projected 19 to 23 traineeships, while Ofsted […]
Download your free copy of the FE Week 16-page highlights from the AoC conference 2013 supplement, sponsored by NOCN. Click here to download (16 mb) ——————————————————————————————– Introduction It had policy announcements aplenty and quite a few speeches, not to mention tears as some worthy students were praised at a glitzy gala dinner — but the […]
Supplements
