Politics

FE is no longer Cinderella, it’s the government’s Fairy Godmother

The post-16 white paper shows that even fairy dust can’t hide the lack of a clear purpose behind yet...

Jessica Hill
Holly Papworth
Skills reform

We’ll end qualification confusion and build confidence in FE

For too long, young people have faced a maze of qualifications with no clear direction. Our new V Levels...

Jessica Hill
Jacqui Smith
Colleges

Weston freed of ‘traumatic’ NTI – but finance probe continues

College out of intervention after strengthening governance procedures

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Colleges

More than half of Turing trips turned down

The government also underspent its budget despite a one-third cut

Anviksha Patel
Anviksha Patel
Skills reform

We need the same rigour of teaching in colleges as in schools

Schools soared up the international league tables under Gove and Gibb. Colleges, by contrast, remain the poor relation. It’s...

Jessica Hill
Will Bickford Smith
Staff

Government promises details of 6,500-teacher manifesto pledge

DfE will publish a full delivery plan by December

Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Lydia Chantler-Hicks
Long read, Politics

Reform plots a political tsunami, but skills policy is lost at sea

Farage's turquoise tide: The insurgent party’s supporters want to fix ‘broken Britain’, insisting that trades and industrial automation are...

Jessica Hill
Jessica Hill
Politics

One minister, two beasts: Can Jacqui Smith fix the skills system?

Jacqui Smith’s unprecedented brief spanning the DfE and DWP signals ambition for a joined-up skills system. But without wider...

Jessica Hill
Dr Sue Pember
Skills reform

Colleges are bracing themselves for the Whitehall power shift

With skills policy moving to DWP, Ofsted unveiling a new framework and defence cash pouring in, this autumn could...

Jessica Hill
David Hughes