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Merger: a new emotional landscape

Posted on by Andrew Morris Posted in FE colleges, Further Education, governance, Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

 Mergers are happening all over the sector at the moment. In the first of a series of guest blogs Tom Jupp – former Principal of City and Islington College – reflects on his experience of creating the college out of…

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Analysis suggests Ofsted reports fail to give a fair and balanced picture of performance in further education

Posted on by Andrew Morris Posted in DfE, FE colleges, Further Education, Ofsted, Uncategorized

By Ian Nash Are Ofsted inspection reports still fit for purpose? Where weaknesses are indicated, do they do what is intended and create the right incentives for colleges and other providers to improve? Moreover, do the reports accurately reflect what…

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Response to Sir Michael Wilshaw’s letter

Posted on by Andrew Morris Posted in DfE, FE colleges, Further Education, Ofsted, Uncategorized

Sir Michael Wilshaw replied to Mick Fletcher’s open letter to him (see previous post). Click to read Sir Michael’s reply.   Mick Fletcher remains unconvinced… Wilshaw’s response is unconvincing Sir Michael Wilshaw has written in response to the letter which…

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Open Letter to Sir Michael Wilshaw

Posted on by Andrew Morris Posted in FE colleges, Further Education, Ofsted

22 January 2016  Dear Sir Michael,  Your speech to Centre Forum, 19th January 2016 We were concerned and surprised to read that, in your recent speech given at Centre Forum, you stated that: “educational provision, for the many children who…

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A sea change in evidence?

Posted on by Andrew Morris Posted in Evidence-based practice, FE colleges, LSRN, Professionalism, Research, Staff development

Andrew Morris reports from a recent LSRN meeting on FE’s growing use of evidence If South Staffordshire College, Thurrock Adult Community College and HMP Dovegate are anything to go by, a significant change in the use of evidence is indeed…

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A good time for a bad decision

Posted on by Mick Fletcher Posted in Alison Wolf, FE colleges, Funding, Policy, Uncategorized — No Comments ↓

Mick Fletcher responds to the first funding announcement from the new Skills Minister, Nick Boles. This piece appeared originally in the ‘FE Experts’ section of ‘FE Week’ on 22nd July 2014. It was perhaps inevitable that the decision of the…

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Has Labour lost the plot — or, just a speech?

Posted on by Ian Nash Posted in Academic–vocational divide, Apprenticeships, Employers, FE colleges, Funding, HE in FE, Policy, Vocational Education, Vocational Education and Training — No Comments ↓

As Parliament went into recess, the Policy Consortium’s Ian Nash cheekily rummaged through the wastepaper bins of the Commons Library and other places to find the ‘lost’ speech that Opposition Leader Ed Miliband should have delivered at last week’s Sutton…

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Taking the pulse of FE – full report from survey

Posted on by EditorJW Posted in FE colleges, Funding, Further Education, governance, Ofsted, Vocational Education

The Policy Consortium is very pleased to provide its full report Taking the pulse of Further Education [700 kB 65 page PDF], with analysis of the responses received from over 1000 people across the FE sector to our recent survey,…

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DfE can’t disguise a hit on the disadvantaged

Posted on by Mick Fletcher Posted in DfE, FE colleges, Further Education — No Comments ↓

Mick Fletcher, member of the Policy Consortium, scrutinises the DfE impact assessment for the cut to funding for 18 year olds. Imagine a man (let’s call him Matthew) who is embarrassed at his short stature. Instead of saying he is…

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Ofsted still found to be in much need of improvement

Posted on by Mike Cooper Posted in FE colleges, Improvement, Ofsted — No Comments ↓

Colin Forrest, Carolyn Medlin and Mike Cooper of the Policy Consortium analyse what Sir Michael Wilshaw’s Ofsted Annual Report for 2012/13 says about further education and college improvement. This is an extended version of the post ‘Setting the scene for…

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