AEB | FE Week - Part 2

William Pickford, principal, Redbridge Institute of Adult Education

William Pickford has had an “eclectic” 25-year career in FE which has seen him opening a college on a faraway tropical island, overseeing another as it was evicted due to local authority financial mismanagement, and now, leading London’s only ‘outstanding’ council-run adult education service. Since 2021, he has been the principal of Redbridge Institute of […]

Family learning: Where next for the ‘hidden jewel’ of adult education?

Family learning programmes have had to fight for survival in a competitive funding environment that demands quantifiable outcomes for learners. But the provision, which involves adults and children learning together, now seems to be enjoying a bit of a revival, with over 20 per cent more people taking up family learning courses in 2022-23 than […]

‘Automatic suspension’ on national AEB contracts lifted amid legal challenge

Several contracts weren’t issued when they were supposed to, FE Week understands

Major training group launches legal action against ESFA over ‘unlawful’ AEB tender

Learning Curve Group demands re-run of the national procurement

PeoplePlus walks away from AEB delivery

Three years ago PeoplePlus held the largest national AEB contract among all independent training providers

First regional AEB learner survey published

Greater London Authority finds just over half of learners had positive outcomes

DfE extends HGV driver training offer for another year

The Department for Education confirms its adult education budget offer for HGV driver training will be extended for a further year

Revealed: The 19 winners of the Liverpool City Region AEB tender

The names of the 19 training providers that have won contracts with Liverpool City Region to deliver its devolved adult education budget (AEB) have been revealed. The combined authority will take control of an annual £50.35 million budget to deliver adult education from September. Up to 30 per cent – or £15.11 million – of […]

Overspend: GLA warns of risk to AEB devo project

The Greater London Authority has denied that devolution of the adult education budget is at risk due to spiralling IT costs, despite warning the Mayor that failure to find the extra cash could “jeopardise” the project. The GLA is due to take control of London’s £306 million adult education budget from the Education and Skills […]