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14 April 2026

Tag: Ofsted

Ofsted slaps provider with grade 4 after evidence of copy and paste assessments

A Newcastle-based training provider with contracts worth £3.5 million last year is facing having them pulled after receiving the lowest possible grade overall from Ofsted this week. But Northern Construction Training and Regeneration was rated ‘good’ for its apprenticeships provision, meaning it’s likely to keep its place on the Education and Skills Funding Agency’s apprenticeships […]

Ofsted given final say over new apprenticeship provider quality

Ofsted has officially been given the final say over poor-performing apprenticeship providers following an early monitoring visit, the Education and Skills Funding Agency has confirmed today. FE Week reported back in May that the move was on the cards, following embarrassment for the government over apprenticeship accountability. According to the ESFA’s ‘Removal from register of […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]

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 […]