• Ofsted: more cash needed before campus-level inspections become reality

    Ofsted is keen to introduce campus-level inspections but would need more cash from the Department for Education before they could become a reality, FE Week can reveal. On Wednesday the DfE confirmed it would introduce campus-level performance reporting from next year, following a consultation earlier this year. Ofsted’s response to the consultation, seen exclusively by…

    11.33 Aug. 3rd, 2018 | News

  • Ofsted criticised for allowing college mergers to be excuse for turning a blind eye to failure

    The chair of the influential education select committee has called on Ofsted to “learn the lessons” from Learndirect, after an FE Week investigation found failing colleges that still hadn’t been visited by the education watchdog a year after they merged. Mid-Cheshire College, rated ‘inadequate’ for the second time in a row in May 2017, merged…

    7.00 Aug. 3rd, 2018 | News

  • Training for hundreds of glass industry apprentices branded 'inadequate'

    UPDATE: The government has confirmed that the Vocational College has now “ceased training”. “The DfE has appointed an administrator to support the transfer of learners and it is our priority to make sure that suitable high quality alternative provision can be found for all learners so they can continue with their learning with the minimum…

    12.17 Jul. 16th, 2018 | News

  • August is key merger month amid 17 partnerships for 2018

    A partnership that was bitterly opposed by a local council, and the first university-college link-up in six years, are among four mergers set to go through on August 1. They are among 17 partnerships due to be formalised this year, despite Ofsted’s recent warning that bigger colleges are not always better. Financially stricken Epping Forest…

    8.00 Jul. 16th, 2018 | News

  • Ofsted watch: Bad week for providers - especially UTCs

    It was a poor week for providers who received full inspections, as one failed to improve its grade three and two university technical colleges were hit with damning grade four reports. People and Business Development Ltd, an independent provider based in Suffolk, was rated ‘requires improvement’ across the board – which was worse than its…

    12.26 Jul. 6th, 2018 | News

  • Three 'inadequate' UTCs in a week as Lord Baker blames Ofsted

    Ofsted has dealt a series of devastating blows to university technical colleges this week, with three of the 14-to-19 technical and vocational institutions rated “inadequate” in a week. Inspectors were damning in their criticism of UTC@Harbourside, Derby Manufacturing UTC and Health Futures UTC in grade 4 reports published between June 28 and July 4. The…

    10.30 Jul. 6th, 2018 | News

  • Inadequate Ofsted report exposes racial bullying at doomed UTC

    Bullying – some of it racial – is rife at a university technical college that announced closure earlier this week, according to its damning ‘inadequate’ Ofsted reporting published this morning. UTC@Harbourside is also accused of “too often” breaking “too many promises”, in a report that gives the 14 to 19 technical institution the lowest possible…

    9.59 Jul. 4th, 2018 | News

  • Ofsted: Bigger colleges aren't always better

    “Big is not always beautiful,” Ofsted’s main man for FE has warned, admitting he is considering the effect of mega-colleges formed through mergers on quality. Paul Joyce’s admission comes just a week after the nation’s largest college group NCG saw its rating slip to ‘requires improvement’. “We are looking at our survey programme as to…

    11.00 Jun. 29th, 2018 | News

  • Ofsted should renege on its merger deal

    “Big isn’t always beautiful” is something of an understatement coming from Ofsted in the context of FE providers. The biggest private training provider, Learndirect, was awarded a grade four last year and in recent weeks the biggest college group, NCG, slumped to a grade three. Despite this, the average size of colleges, far from shrinking…

    11.00 Jun. 29th, 2018 | Opinion

  • An eighth UTC gets the bottom Ofsted grade

    Yet another university technical college has been rated ‘inadequate’, the eighth to receive Ofsted’s most dubious honour. Derby Manufacturing UTC has been placed in special measures after getting a grade four across the board – the school equivalent of FE commissioner intervention. “It is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and…

    17.46 Jun. 28th, 2018 | News

  • Public Accounts Committee wants more DfE action on bad apprenticeships

    The Department for Education must “weed out” poor apprenticeship provision, the Public Accounts Committee has said. A new report by the group of influential MPs also presses the department to look into whether financial incentives for teacher training deliver value for money, and to increase the number of women studying science, technology, engineering and maths…

    0.01 Jun. 22nd, 2018 | News