UTCs | FE Week

Forget the gloom, T Levels are turning a corner

Breaking the 90 per cent pass rate barrier, the falling drop-out rate and some excellent destinations are proving the value of T Levels as a serious rival to A Levels

The 14-16 funding gap is holding back technical education

The industrial strategy promises to boost skills in key sectors. But while post-16 technical courses get extra funding, pre-16 technical education is left behind. It’s time for more fairness in the funding system

A new hope for UTCs

Despite being written off as a failure by Michael Gove, Baker Dearing CEO Kate Ambrosi believes university technical colleges are perfectly placed to meet Labour’s skills goals

DfE slammed for refusal to investigate defunct Manchester UTC as paperwork fails to materialise

Auditors were unable to properly scrutinise the finances of a failed University Technical College because important data was missing, but the government chose not to investigate this issue. Accounts for the Greater Manchester UTC for 2016-17, finally published last month and over a year late, reveal that auditors gave a rare “disclaimer of opinion” on […]

The official UTC figures don’t give the full picture

Lord Baker on why the Baker Dearing Educational Trust’s own data on university technical colleges is more comprehensive than the DfE’s ‘official’ measures What is the point of collecting data? Without data we just have subjective opinions, but with it we have objective information, which in turn provides useful insight. Indeed, the Baker Dearing Educational […]

DfE figures shoot down UTCs’ ‘incredible’ destinations claims

New government data has undermined boasts about University Technical Colleges’ “excellent destinations”, and shows the level of NEET leavers to be eight times higher than is claimed. The Baker Dearing Trust, which backs UTCs, has repeatedly asserted that just one per cent of 18-year-olds leaving the 14 to 19 technical institutions were not in employment, […]

Can UTCs fit in the technical education jigsaw?

The government should think again on UTCs, and consider moving admissions to 16, says Gerard Dominguez-Reig Technical education is prone to continual fiddling by recent governments. In the last few years we’ve seen the roll out of T-levels, significant reforms to apprenticeships, and the area reviews of further education colleges. Emanating from government’s post-16 skills plan, […]

Allow UTCs and studio schools to select pupils, argues Toby Young

University technical colleges and studio schools should be allowed to select pupils on the basis of aptitude, a controversial new report authored by Toby Young has argued. Furthermore, such a move would be legal and would only require a change in policy, according to ‘Technically gifted: How selection can save technical and vocational education’, published […]

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 […]