• Fining Failing Schools is not a Solution

    Reputable right-of-centre thinktank Policy Exchanged has this week suggested that schools whose pupils fail Maths and English GCSE should be fined, and this levy should be paid to further education (FE) colleges to help them pay for obligatory subsequent exam resits. The proposition, if enacted, will hinder schools that...
  • Is Adult Education in Crisis?

    The Association for Colleges (AoC), which represents 336 institutions of various forms of further education (FE), has alarmingly warned that 190,000 adult education places will be cut next year. This is arguably due to a funding cut of 24%. Put bluntly, the AoC have claimed that ‘Adult education and...
  • The failure of Further Education colleges is a failure of the entire system

    There is an acute problem in the quality of our further education (FE) establishments. A third of those which provide ‘low cost’ degrees, costing £7,500 or less annually, have failed recent inspection by the Quality Assurance Agency.   The agency is yet to publish a report addressing why 14...