colleges | FE Week

Strike dates announced for colleges locked in pay dispute

College staff will go on strike over pay and conditions on the last day of February, with some adding March 1. Notices have been issued to colleges in Sandwell and across London, informing them of the dates for a two-day strike over pay. “They are going to be on strike on February 28 and March […]

Minster launches consultation on college insolvency roll-out

The skills minister is asking for views on how new college insolvency arrangements should be rolled out. An eight-week consultation seeks views from staff at general FE colleges, sixth-form colleges, local authorities, financial institutions and others from across FE, as well as insolvency practitioners. Launched by Anne Milton and the Department for Education, it opened […]

A busy day for mergers as 21 colleges join 10 partnerships

A record-breaking 10 partnerships involving 21 colleges have been made official today – making this the single busiest day ever for mergers. But that figure could have been much higher: at least seven further link-ups that had been set to go through today – the first day of the 2017/18 academic year – were held […]

Glacial progress exposed for colleges’ apprentice delivery

Colleges deliver just one in five apprenticeships last year, meaning virtually no progress has been made in the 18 months since they were told to get more involved by the minister at the time. This figure, based on FE Week analysis of data obtained by the Association of Employment and Learning Providers through a freedom […]

Lib Dems commit to defending 16 to 19 funding

A “real-terms” commitment to protect 16 to 19 FE funding per pupil has been announced by the Liberal Democrats. The party announced today that over the course of the parliament, it will protect FE per pupil funding “in real terms” at £660 million, and “invest in continuous professional development for teachers” through a £165 million […]

Government secretly grading all colleges and training providers

UPDATE: It has been brought to our attention that there were inaccuracies in the full PAT list previously published, which FE Week downloaded from the DFE website. Whilst we investigate we have removed the link to this data. We apologise for any inconvenience caused. The data was sent to the DfE in advance of publishing […]

Agency boss writes warning letter to all college principals

The outgoing boss of the Education and Skills Funding Agency has fired a warning shot across the bows to all colleges on the importance of reliable financial and data management. Peter Lauener (pictured above) reminded college principals– or “accounting officers” – of their responsibilities in this area and the consequences of failing to meet them, […]

Ofsted boss commits to more ‘positive and purposeful’ approach to FE

Ofsted’s new chief inspector was vowed to “reset” the relationship between the education watchdog and colleges, in her first speech to the FE sector since taking over from Sir Michael Wilshaw in January. Amanda Spielman struck a more conciliatory tone than her controversial predecessor at the AoC Ofsted conference this morning in London. But while […]

Ofsted watch: Poor start to the year for FE colleges

No college inspection report to have been published by the education watchdog since the beginning of the year has resulted in a higher grade. It’s part of a general downward trend across the general FE, independent learning provider and adult and community learning sectors at the start of 2017. Ten of the 15 Ofsted reports […]