York College
‘ofsted’
“We are heading towards the edge of a cliff, which we’re going to fall off,” says the principal of South Thames College, describing the on-going funding crisis in further education. Strong words perhaps, but Sue Rimmer speaks from a vast amount of experience in the sector. It would be unwise not to listen. Raised in […]
Profiles
The debate around apprenticeships over the last few months, which has now prompted a Commons select committee inquiry, was originally sparked by FE Week’s coverage of ‘short-course’ apprenticeships and we know that the publication is able to talk knowledgably about the subject, even if we may not always agree with its opinions. However I cannot […]
Opinion
Private providers ahead of FE colleges in government learner satisfaction survey. Learners think private training providers listen and respond to their views better than general FE colleges, according to analysis by FE Week. Private training providers outscored colleges in every category of the learner satisfaction survey, published online in the ‘FE Choices Publication of Outputs’, […]
News
Ofsted has announced a consultation which will propose replacing the ‘satisfactory’ grade with ‘requires improvement’ for all further education (FE) colleges. The inspection shake-up follows similar suggestions put forward by the new chief inspector of schools, Sir Michael Wilshaw, in a bid to tackle “coasting schools”. Matthew Coffey, national director of learning and skills at […]
Ofsted is to consult on replacing the ‘satisfactory’ grade with ‘requires improvement’ for FE colleges. Matthew Coffey, national director of learning and skills at Ofsted, said: “Sir Michael Wilshaw, Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector, announced on 17 January 2012 his intention to scrap the ‘satisfactory’ grade for school inspections and to replace it with ‘requires improvement’. “The […]
Uncategorized
A new principal has been appointed to East Surrey College. Following national search, the Corporation of East Surrey College has announced Jayne Dickinson as the new Principal and Chief Executive of the college. It follows a successful year for the college, which included completing a move into the new buildings, achieving Investors in People (Gold), […]
Bulletin
BETT Show 2012 replaces traditional seminars with a number of interactive sessions known collectively as LearnLive. The format hopes to discourage static presentations and open up more opportunities both for networking and intelligent discussion between participants. Visitors can influence each session by contacting a programme ‘leader’ through Twitter or youbett, an online social community designed […]
Employers are to be given £250 million of colleges’ funding. Shocking. But hang on: what funding is it that colleges are entitled to? Of course all good employers want to develop the skills of their workforce and apprentices, and most want to use the best colleges and training providers to help them. Where employers act […]
With the Chancellor’s Autumn Financial Statement now out of the way, budgets are being set for different parts of the education system. First out of the blocks has been the FE and adult skills sector where BIS has announced an overall budget of £3.8bn for 2012/13, dropping as per previous announcements to £3.4bn for 2013/14 […]
