'Although excessive diversity [of qualification] has caused confusion, it often evolved for good reasons' Curriculum and assessment review panel members Lisa O’Loughlin and John Laramy

💼 The Department for Education has bolstered the FE Commissioner’s team with three new deputies amid a shake-up of its FE oversight regime feweek.co.uk/razey-return...

📈 'Inconsistent' training of Prevent practitioners who refer students 'when in doubt' has encouraged over-reporting to the government’s counter-terrorism programme, sparking calls for a rethink from an independent review feweek.co.uk/statutory-pr...

'Some adjustments will work. Some won’t' Chris Quickfall of Cognassist on the implications of Ofsted’s new inclusion rules for FE educators

🎓 Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are less likely to take up degree apprenticeships than to study at elite Russell Group universities, according to new research feweek.co.uk/degree-appre...

'Far from being remedial, pathways accelerate readiness' Gianina Harvey-Brewin challenges the perception that foundation years and CertHEs are 'fallback options' for those who couldn’t make it onto a “real” degree

💰 Sixth form college teachers have accepted a pay award of 4 per cent but have rejected workload proposals by leaders feweek.co.uk/sixth-form-c...

🤝 Weston College has appointed Jane Hadfield as its new permanent chair of governors, following its exit from financial intervention feweek.co.uk/nhs-hadfield...

'There’s a hidden anxiety that many staff and students carry' Haroon Bashir, University College Birmingham on FE's role when flags divide instead of uniting communities

'A shared framework for teaching quality, workforce development and regulation – a framework connecting every part of the education landscape – can help bridge the FE-HE gap' Dr Katerina Kolyva, @et-foundation.bsky.social

📰 FE Week Weekly News Update Check out this week's news summary. If you still need to register for our newsletter updates, you can sign-up at the below link. 🔗 mailchi.mp/mkt.educatio...

🕵️ Colleges could be forced to change their leaders if Ofsted finds they are failing to meet local skills needs feweek.co.uk/revealed-new...

🤫 A new stage of more confidential 'targeted support' has been added to the government’s college oversight regime. feweek.co.uk/private-targ...

🔍 Former social mobility commissioner Alan Milburn will lead an ‘uncompromising’ independent investigation into rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), the government has announced feweek.co.uk/alan-milburn...

🤝 Chris Millward will reprise his role as OfS's director for fair access and participation on a part-time, interim basis next year feweek.co.uk/ministers-br...

🤝 Long-serving principal Chris Nattress is set to retire after steering Lakes College out of government intervention feweek.co.uk/cumbrian-col...

Britain’s oldest adult learning charity, @weaadulted.bsky.social is opening new doors even as others close, as it navigates the shift from skills for life to skills for work @simonparkinson.bsky.social

🏏 This week's movers features a cricket fanatic that founded a women's cricket team in their hometown feweek.co.uk/movers-and-s...

'It’s about using online delivery where it’s easier to staff' Mark Dawe of @theskillsnetwork.bsky.social on how online skills delivery can solve ITP staffing shortages

'This government's blind spot about employers is beginning to cause problems' Ben Rowland of AELP on why employers are the most important stakeholders when it comes to skills reforms

🏆 A former refugee-turned-ESOL tutor and an apprentice determined to decarbonise the capital are among this year’s finalists in the Mayor of London adult learning awards feweek.co.uk/refugee-turn...

🗣️ A Reform UK mayor’s plans to ditch ESOL courses because they don’t benefit 'native' residents have not yet been copied elsewhere in England, an FE Week investigation has found feweek.co.uk/reform-uk-ma...

'Many college leaders would love to focus more on enrichment but simply have to prioritise other things' Lisa Humphries of NAMSS on why FE needs its own enrichment framework, not one designed for schools

🗣️ AELP conference round-up: Smith and Ridley-Pepper seek to soothe over skills reform feweek.co.uk/aelp-confere...

👨‍⚖️ Analysis: Why the judge found no grudge and no duty of care as DfE defeated Marples’ £37m+ 3aaa High Court claim feweek.co.uk/judge-finds-...

🗞️This week's FE Week front page: Whitehall’s post-16 reform spree Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/ #TomorrowsPapersToday

👍 Brooklands Technical College will remain a standalone institution, the FE Commissioner has decided following a six-year review feweek.co.uk/brooklands-c...

'In most jobs, people don’t encounter triangular prisms' Susan Pittock of Remit Training provides suggestions for how functional skills maths could be overhauled, after the curriculum and assessment review highlighted the qual's unpopularity with providers

🔍 DfE has finally set out how it will handle interventions on poorly performing apprenticeship training providers under the new Ofsted inspection regime, which begins next week feweek.co.uk/dfe-sets-out...

⌛ College performance measures for English and maths will be changed so the government can monitor how much time students have in learning before they are entered for resit exams feweek.co.uk/francis-revi...

📋Becky Francis’s curriculum and assessment review calls for ‘stronger’ English and math accountability, reduced T Level assessment and mandatory enrichment feweek.co.uk/curriculum-r...

💰 Colleges are set to return £379 million in recently pledged capital funding back to the Treasury due to its 'penalising' VAT policy, a group of colleges has argued feweek.co.uk/379m-in-coll...

🤷‍♂️ The Office for Students has reissued an order to grant the LTE Group degree awarding powers after it incorrectly authorised an online retailer with a similar name feweek.co.uk/limited-unde...

🆕 Training providers will need to register with the government to deliver new 'apprenticeship units' through the reformed growth and skills levy, DWP's skills director has confirmed feweek.co.uk/providers-mu...

🏆 Manchester City Council, BBC Studios Drama and former politician Ed Balls have been celebrated with the first-ever Get the Nation Learning award for their efforts to widen access to adult learning feweek.co.uk/ed-balls-amo...

🖥️ 1-week apprenticeship ‘units’, and 5 other things we learned from FE Week's white paper briefing with skills minister Jacqui Smith feweek.co.uk/1-week-appre...

👩‍⚖️ A union has been refused permission to launch a judicial review over new Ofsted report card inspections feweek.co.uk/high-court-r...

📰 FE Week Weekly News Update Check out this week's news summary. If you still need to register for our newsletter updates, you can sign-up at the below link. 🔗 mailchi.mp/mkt.educatio...

📉 A post-pandemic boom in adults learning appears to have ended with a sharp dip in the last year, according to a think tank’s annual survey feweek.co.uk/adult-learni...

👩🏫 The Department for Education has created a 13-strong expert advisory group to help reform FE teacher training and development feweek.co.uk/dfe-names-fe...

🚌 The UK’s spending watchdog has urged the government to improve its ‘insufficient’ data collection on SEND transport amid risks that councils ‘scaling back’ their post-16 provision could increase NEET numbers feweek.co.uk/nao-send-tra...

'Admin roles are often viewed as jobs with limited progression, but that doesn’t have to be the case' Lexie Cheesewright, the Digital Marketing Association on how apprenticeships can take admit staff from the front desk to the digital front line

🚨 Exam regulator Ofqual has awarded itself new powers to publicly 'rebuke' rule-breaking awarding bodies. feweek.co.uk/ofqual-to-pu...

😬 Three of the five pilot reformed apprenticeship assessment plans have now been released amid continuing unease from employers and awarding leaders feweek.co.uk/first-reform...

🛍️ Awarding organisation AQA has bought Realise Training – its second expansion into the vocational training sector this year feweek.co.uk/aqa-buys-rea...

🚨Breaking: The High Court has thrown out Peter Marples' multi-million claim against the Department for Education, ending a three year legal battle feweek.co.uk/case-dismiss...

Covid forced colleges online overnight. But years later, too many still confuse digital access with digital inclusion: Imran Mir, Apex College Leicester

'Taken as a whole, the direction of travel is good. But the system could become more confusing for employers in the short term.' ✍️Robert Halfon, Executive director at Make UK and former skills minister feweek.co.uk/the-post-16-...

🫵 A specialist security training provider has blamed the behaviour of 'one bad employer' for its ‘inadequate’ Ofsted inspection result, published today feweek.co.uk/one-bad-empl...

📰 FE Week Weekly News Update Check out this week's news summary. If you still need to register for our newsletter updates, you can sign-up at the below link. 🔗 mailchi.mp/mkt.educatio...