further education | FE Week

Ofqual boss urged to ‘fight’ for apprenticeship assessment watchdog role

“Stand up and fight” to become the apprenticeship assessment watchdog – that was the call to Ofqual’s boss from new Federation of Awarding Bodies chair Paul Eeles at conference today. The role has currently been laid at the door of the Skills Funding Agency, which has been slow to approve organisations to carry out new […]

Collab Group: Building on yesterday for tomorrow

Ian Pretty explains why the former 157 Group has changed its name. Ten years ago a group of colleges came together with a grand vision. These principals formed what would become the 157 Group, an organisation formed to showcase the best of what FE can be. Since then, the 157 Group has lived up to […]

Devolve FE funding to tackle post-Brexit skills gap, London mayor demands

Demands are being made by London mayor Sadiq Khan for devolution of all post-16 FE funding, to bridge post-Brexit skills gaps. His team announced today that he wants new powers to develop “a home-grown talent pipeline equipped” to help London’s businesses stay globally competitive. Key to this would be the “devolution of FE funding for […]

College asset stripping fears eased by area review guidance

Fears that private equity firms could be allowed to asset strip failed colleges have been eased, with the publication of key area review documents by the Department for Education. A draft version of one of the documents – the due diligence framework – seen by FE Week in June included ‘Acquisition of an FE college […]