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‘ofsted’

New inspection framework

Ofsted have released the new Common Inspection Framework as part of the Handbook for the inspection for further education and skills. Changes to the framework, which will be implemented from September, include the reduction of inspection notice periods from three weeks to two days and the replacement of the ‘satisfactory’ judgement with ‘requires improvement’. There […]

News

Concern over VAT on FE loans

Learners taking out an FE loan next year could be forced to pay 20 per cent VAT if they study with an independent training provider, according to Graham Hoyle, Chief Executive of the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) . The charge will be introduced as part of the “24+ advanced learning loan” scheme […]

News

College’s shameful disregard for the rules

The findings in the Tenon report feel a little unsubstantiated in places. However, what the FE sector should be worried about is the underlying message and detailed data manipulation methods. Changing the ends dates of courses retrospectively, removing overseas or work-based learners from their ILR return and using transfer codes to remove students from specific […]

Uncategorized

Ofsted risk-assessment under spotlight

Declining Ofsted grades were at the forefront of the ‘FE & Skills Inspections’ Westminster Briefing conference, with recent statistics showing a drop of one or more grades at 65 per cent of colleges since January this year. Matthew Coffey, the director of development, learning and skills at Ofsted, said the fall in grades is because […]

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Great Debate on Teaching and Learning

Joy Mercer, AoC and Bob Powell, Holex, offered opinions and views from the floor Apprenticeships were fiercely debated at the Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) conference, with a diverse panel of experts exploring how to improve standards. Central to the debate was the question of quality. Members of the panel suggested that the […]

Uncategorized

Ofsted inspections – why are the grades dropping?

The decrease in colleges’ Ofsted grades has been well documented in FE Week. In 2009-2010, about a quarter of colleges that were previously judged to be good or outstanding saw their grade decline. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of Ofsted, has been vocal in his concerns, claiming that colleges were “using the complexity of FE […]

Opinion

‘Massive’ error in the National Success Rates Tables

The National Success Rate Tables (NSRT) for 2010/11 will need to be republished after significant errors were identified. More than 23 per cent of all qualifications are showing an ‘unknown’ level, up from just 2 per cent in the earlier Qualification Success Rate (QSR) report (see table below). Members of the College Management Information Systems […]

News

Colleges ‘fixing’ the success rate figures. Where will it end?

An overwhelming majority of staff working in FE colleges have concerns with the credibility of success rate data. A survey conducted by Lsect, publisher of FE Week, revealed that after excluding those who responded ‘don’t know’, 90 per cent said “yes” to the question: “Across colleges, do you think there is a problem with success […]

News

Penny Wycherley, principal and CEO, Great Yarmouth College

“By any standards, it was a dysfunctional childhood,” says Penny Wycherley, principal of Great Yarmouth College, of her early life. Born in Stoke, and raised in Oxford, where her father ran a successful chain of electrical shops, Wycherley was educated an independent school, where she jokes the only thing she learned was “how to carry […]

Profiles