DfE | FE Week - Part 21

Ofsted could re-inspect after QAR loophole crackdown

Ofsted could re-inspect providers for questionable achievement rates that have come to light following a recent Skills Funding Agency crackdown. Last week the Department for Education admitted to a loophole in the SFA’s qualification achievement rates calculation, which it said “artificially” boosted the scores for around a tenth of all providers, with some benefiting by […]

Greater Manchester UTC is seventh to announce closure

The Greater Manchester University Technical College (UTC) will close at the end of this academic year, becoming the seventh of the institutions to shut its doors as a result of recruitment problems. Leaders at the UTC told students this afternoon that the college had been unable to recruit enough pupils in Oldham “and further afield” […]

Education leaders call for co-ordinated national ESOL strategy

Two of the country’s most senior educators have called on the government to produce a coherent national strategy for teaching English to immigrants, and put a stop to wasteful competition between different ministries and departments. At present, responsibility for English as a second language is split between the Department for Education and the Department for […]

DfE silent on FE commissioner intervention reports

A stop appears to have been put on publication of FE commissioner intervention reports, despite growing numbers of failing colleges. What’s more, there is no sign of the FE commissioner’s 2015/16 annual report, even though previous reports have been published in November or December. The last intervention report, into City of Liverpool College, was published […]

Misleading marketing of ‘industry-approved’ provider schemes exposed

Providers are at risk of being duped into believing they need to pay thousands to become “industry-approved” before they can deliver new apprenticeships for the food and drink industry, FE Week has learned. A body called the National Skills Academy for Food and Drink has been accused by industry figures of “misleading” the sector with […]

Wave three area review reports and recommendations published

This afternoon the Department for Education published most of the reports and recommendations for its area reviews in wave three. Download links below: Cumbria further education area review report – wave 3 Black Country further education area review report – wave 3 Coventry and Warwickshire further education area review report – wave 3 North and mid-Hampshire […]

DfE writes off another £3m from undersubscribed UTCs

Over £3 million of taxpayers’ money has been lost by the Department for Education, through unrecovered payments to failed university technical colleges for students who never enrolled. The DfE was unable to recover a total of £3,384,512 in pupil number adjustment clawbacks from the unsuccessful Royal Greenwich, Central Bedfordshire and Hackney UTCs, according to the […]

Marsden ‘very disappointed’ as assurances on IfA announcements fail to deliver

Delays to the release of key details about the Institute for Apprenticeships are “very disappointing” evidence of a “haphazard” approach from the government, shadow skills minister Gordon Marsden has said. In a Public Bill Committee hearing on November 22, Peter Lauener, shadow chief executive of the IfA (pictured right), suggested to Mr Marsden that information […]

Governors back first sixth form college merger with multi-academy trust

Governors from the Sixth Form College Solihull have voted to press ahead with plans to join forces with a network of local schools – in what looks set to be the first ever union between a SFC and multi-academy trust. The merger with Ninestiles Academy Trust – which currently includes seven schools across Birmingham and […]