Breaking: Funding rates for the inaugural batch of apprenticeship units will range from £750 up to £3,200, it has been revealed feweek.co.uk/revealed-funding-rates-a...

📣 The biggest stories in education don’t wait, and now, you don’t have to either.

Members get early access to key articles before they go fully public.

🗞️ Get a FREE 4 week trial of FE Week using code: LAUNCHTRIAL2026
https://feweek.co.uk/

#EducationNews #EdLeaders #Policy

Novus selected again to deliver West Midlands prison education The training provider has retained eight prisons in the region following a tender re-run

📋 Eight prisons in the West Midlands have finally been appointed an education supplier after an initial failed procurement process.

feweek.co.uk/novus-selected-again-to-...

📰 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.educationscape.com/w...

Don’t scrap industry-prized diploma, pleads BRIT School boss Cuts to qualifications equivalent to three A Levels could force students to study outside school and college

🎤 The head of the BRIT School, which counts Adele and Olivia Dean among its alumni, has warned against cuts to qualifications that allow creative students to 'go deep into their art form' feweek.co.uk/dont-scrap-industry-priz...

CEO faces ruin after fighting directors’ bonus plan The sacked boss of an awarding body fears bankruptcy after going “nuclear” over allegations his directors planned to defraud the company.

⚖️ The sacked boss of an awarding body fears bankruptcy after going 'nuclear' over allegations his directors planned to defraud the company
feweek.co.uk/ceo-faces-ruin-after-fig...

Death sentence for jails’ work-programme expansion Efforts to grow HMP Academies are axed after just one prison sets up employer partnership

🪓 An expansion of employer-led work programmes in prisons has been quietly ditched after a million-pound procurement proved 'poor value for taxpayer money'

feweek.co.uk/death-senten...

'When you step outside the echo chamber of our training and skills industry, awareness of achievement rates remains limited' says Harry Hobbs of Baltic Apprenticeships
feweek.co.uk/we-dont-need...

Movers & Shakers: Edition 529 Carly Lambton-Howard, Association of Colleges, and Dan Beale, SCL Group

🏰 This week's movers includes a historian fanatic who loves Roman around ancient ruins

https://feweek.co.uk/movers-shakers-edition-529/

🗞️ Get a FREE 4 week membership trial of Schools Week or FE Week using coupon code: LAUNCHTRIAL2026

• Members-only content
• Curated weekly digital edition
• Fewer adverts

Join today!
https://feweek.co.uk/subscribe/
https://schoolsweek.co.uk/subscribe/

#EducationNews

🗞️This week’s FE Week front page

The Big Squeeze: Demand is booming but rationed funding and packed colleges are fuelling the NEET crisis

For a free trial, use code LAUNCHTRIAL2026 at checkout

https://feweek.co.uk/subscribe/

£9m keeps complex-needs job finder scheme alive DfE confirms cash for council programmes that support non-EHCP young people

💰 An employment training scheme that helps students with additional needs find work has been handed £9 million to extend for another year

feweek.co.uk/9m-keeps-complex-needs-j...

I passed my exam, but the SEND system in FE failed me SEND support is judged by whether it exists, not whether it works. For many, that gap comes at a cost

‘I got an A in my English Language GCSE – but my scribe couldn't identify a comma’

Shahab Ahmad’s experience shows for many SEND learners, the system’s biggest failure is not absence of support but its misalignment feweek.co.uk/i-passed-my-exam-but-the...

Exam board fined £270,000 over errors in physics papers 40 students received the wrong grades due to a number of errors in OCR's physics papers from last year

Ofqual has handed out a £270,000 fine to Cambridge OCR due to serious errors in last summer’s physics papers, which meant 40 students received the wrong grades feweek.co.uk/exam-board-fined-270000-...

City & Guilds members vote in favour of independent inquiry Members of the City & Guilds Foundation have voted for an independent inquiry into the sale of its awarding business, following pressure from an action group

🗳️ Members of the City & Guilds Foundation have voted to back an independent inquiry into the sale of its commercial awarding business, following pressure from an action group at the charity’s annual meeting today

feweek.co.uk/city-guilds-...

Access to HE can play a key role in driving social mobility Our student’s journey from an Access course to Cambridge University shows what Access to HE can really achieve

Access to HE isn’t just a second chance, it’s a ‘launchpad for transformation’, says Kim Laughton of The Bedford College Group, who highlights how it launched one student’s journey all the way to Cambridge University feweek.co.uk/access-to-he-can-play-a-...

Colleges face funding squeeze as DfE rations student growth cash again Only around three-quarters of the funding expected for in-year growth requests will be paid in 2025-26

Breaking: Colleges and sixth forms in England will once again be forced to absorb the cost of rising student numbers after ministers confirmed they will not fully fund this year’s in-year growth requests feweek.co.uk/colleges-face-funding-sq...

‘Stepping-stone’ English and maths GCSEs risk halting social mobility progress, SMC report warns New level 1 preparation courses for students resitting the core subjects risk act as a ‘stumbling block’

🪨 Plans to introduce new 'stepping-stone' courses for young people who fail GCSE English and maths risk creating a 'stumbling block' for disadvantaged students, an SMC think-piece has warned feweek.co.uk/stepping-stone-gcses-ris...

‘Experts at hand’ cash must not plug ‘existing gaps’, councils told £1.8bn fund for external support must not be 'disproportionately accessed by the most proactive settings', warns DfE guidance

🔎 Funding for a new scheme aimed at bolstering external support for young people with SEND must not be used to 'fill existing gaps or replace current provision', councils have been warned

feweek.co.uk/experts-at-hand-cash-mus...

Teens aren’t googling your organisation, they’re asking AI When young people want answers about further education, they’re turning to generative AI first

Some handy free advice from Ruth Sparkes, on how to get your organisation noticed on gen AI platforms without a rebrand, new platform or an expensive campaign
feweek.co.uk/teenagers-arent-googling...

Team UK for WorldSkills Shanghai revealed 26 skills champions will represent the UK in the global competition in China this September

🏅A team of 26 talented young professionals have been selected to represent the UK at WorldSkills Shanghai this year

feweek.co.uk/team-uk-for-worldskills-...

Revealed: The next 19 'technical excellence colleges' The government has confirmed the locations of 19 new ‘technical excellence colleges’ as part of a £175 million skills investment in training

🆕 The government has confirmed the locations of 19 new ‘technical excellence colleges’ as part of a £175m skills investment in training for priority industries feweek.co.uk/revealed-the-next-19-tec...

Memberships are now live for Schools Week & FE Week.

Get early access, exclusive content, and a better reading experience.

Take a look and join today 👇
https://schoolsweek.co.uk
https://feweek.co.uk

#Education #EducationNews

Unions start the clock on binding college pay reform This year’s pay negotiations urge for deadlines on binding pay talks for teachers and call for 10% salary rise

⏲️ Further education unions have urged general FE college leaders to commit to 'time-limited' negotiations on creating binding teacher pay scales in FE

feweek.co.uk/unions-start-the-clock-o...

This ESOL review is a rare chance – let's not waste it Caught between skills, immigration and community agendas, ESOL risks being stretched too thin to deliver on any

‘While digital resources can complement classroom provision, it cannot replace it’, argues Diana Sutton, who warns that new language requirements for migrants will ring hollow if access to ESOL provision continues to shrink feweek.co.uk/this-esol-review-is-a-ra...

‘The absolute friend is the truth’: inside Byron Nicolaides’ reckoning over City & Guilds PeopleCert boss reveals company’s internal probe will widen to examine ‘potential criminal activities’

‘The absolute friend is the truth’: inside Byron Nicolaides’ reckoning over City & Guilds feweek.co.uk/the-absolute-friend-is-t...

📰 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.educationscape.com/w...

The government has made its move, now it’s over to employers Youth guarantee sets the direction but without employer action, opportunity remains out of reach for many

Turning entry-level jobs into structured training pathways is the fastest route to unlocking opportunity for young people, argues Nishi Mayor, Youth Futures Foundation feweek.co.uk/the-government-has-made-...

London mayor uses unspent adult skills funding for NEETs Millions in unspent adult education funding held by the mayor of London will be diverted to a youth unemployment schemes

💰 Millions in unspent adult education funding held by the mayor of London will be diverted to a youth unemployment schemes
feweek.co.uk/london-mayor-uses-unspen...

ChatGPT will never know enough for marking assessments Relying on free AI tools like ChatGPT risks undermining the very standards assessment is meant to uphold

From a training provider’s perspective, it’s tempting to believe a free, general-purpose tool like ChatGPT can do everything. It can’t, argues Rajeshwari Iyer of  sAInaptic , and here’s why: feweek.co.uk/chatgpt-will-never-know-...