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FE Week
@feweek.bsky.social
Leading the way in further education, skills & apprenticeships news, views and investigations. Published by EducationScape
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🗞️This week's FE Week front page:

How colleges are stepping in as 14-16s step out of school

Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/

#TomorrowsPapersToday
🪓 The Department for Education is considering the future of the T Level in finance, which launched in 2022, after no awarding organisations bid to run it in the latest procurement round

https://feweek.co.uk/finance-t-level-faces-write-off-after-no-aos-bid-to-run-it/
Finance T Level faces write-off after no AOs bid to run it
Engineering licenses will transfer to Pearson from City & Guilds
feweek.co.uk
February 11, 2026 at 9:41 AM
University and College Union leader Jo Grady has accused her election opponents of taking private messages out of context and 'seeking to frame' her social media usage as a breach of campaign rules

feweek.co.uk/jo-grady-hit...
Jo Grady hits back at claims of UCU election breaches
Full account of Grady showdown with election opponents at certification officer hearing
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 6:27 PM
👉 The Department for Work and Pensions’ most senior official has announced he is stepping down this summer.

feweek.co.uk/dwp-permanen...
DWP permanent secretary to step down
The Department for Work and Pensions’ most senior official has announced he is stepping down this summer.
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 5:01 PM
''Pass the learning around the classroom in the mould of a creative midfielder'
Clare Dignum, South Bank Colleges on lessons FE teachers can learn from Arsenal football players
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 4:27 PM
👋 Basingstoke College of Technology principal Anthony Bravo retired on Monday, leaving the college under interim leadership in the middle of the academic year
feweek.co.uk/bcot-princip...
BCoT principal Anthony Bravo suddenly retires
Basingstoke College of Technology (BCoT) principal Anthony Bravo retired on Monday (Febuary 9), leaving the college under interim leadership mid-year
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 12:36 PM
'The old infrastructure for essential skills provision is increasingly creaking and dated'
@lwalexs.bsky.social , @learnworkuk.bsky.social on how joining up Jobcentres and adult
learning could be a gamechanger, with the right vision
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 10:05 AM
🏗️ Construction firms working on school and college buildings will be forced to offer apprenticeships and T Level placement opportunities to students to work on site, the government has said
feweek.co.uk/school-and-c...
School and college builders will have to hire apprentices
Construction firms working on school and college buildings will be forced to offer apprenticeships and T Level placement opportunities to students
feweek.co.uk
February 10, 2026 at 9:20 AM
🧑‍💻 An apprenticeship brokerage pilot run by metro mayors will offer a university 'clearance style system' for young people whose applications have been rejected, the government has said
feweek.co.uk/clearance-st...
'Clearance style' apprenticeship pilot to be run by mayors
An apprenticeship brokerage pilot run by metro mayors will offer a university “clearance style system” for young people whose applications have been rejected
feweek.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 5:44 PM
'SMEs’ engagement in apprenticeships has been flagging in recent years'
says Alice Gardner of @edgeuk.bsky.social - but there's an easy fix to this #NAW2026
feweek.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 3:32 PM
📰 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...
February 9, 2026 at 12:33 PM
Inside the world of FE college 14-16 provision, where colleges are turning around the lives of anxious young people who had previously turned their backs on the education system
feweek.co.uk
February 9, 2026 at 10:05 AM
🆕 Ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, the government says it can slash the time it takes to update apprenticeship standards to as little as three months

feweek.co.uk/ministers-to...
Ministers to slash update approval times for some apprenticeships
DWP said accelerated processes could cut approval times from 18 to three months
feweek.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 10:30 PM
Providers need clarity, flexibility and time to deliver post-16 qualifications reform

✍️Michael Lemin, NCFE

feweek.co.uk/v-levels-amb...
V Levels ambition will outrun reality unless we slow down
Providers need clarity, flexibility and time to deliver post-16 qualifications reform
feweek.co.uk
February 7, 2026 at 4:14 PM
Investment alone cannot build turbines, commission hydrogen plants, or run nuclear facilities warn members of the National Energy Skills Consortium (NESC)
feweek.co.uk
February 6, 2026 at 3:19 PM
💸 A London scheme that paid £400 for every adult learner who found work in key sectors used only 2.5 per cent of its £5.4 million budget, FE Week can reveal
feweek.co.uk/londons-adul...
London’s adult ed job payments fall flat
A London scheme that paid £400 for every adult learner who found work in key sectors used only 2.5 per cent of its £5.4 million budget, FE Week can reveal.
feweek.co.uk
February 6, 2026 at 10:14 AM
🚨 One of England’s smallest colleges has been handed £1.5m in emergency funding while it explores a potential merger feweek.co.uk/1-5m-emergen...
£1.5m emergency funding as Newbury considers merger
Cashflow pressure has been eased while the FE Commissioner reviews the college's long-term future
feweek.co.uk
February 6, 2026 at 9:02 AM
🗞️This week's FE Week front page:

How colleges are stepping in as 14-16s step out of school

Subscribe | feweek.co.uk/subscribe/

#TomorrowsPapersToday
February 5, 2026 at 8:20 PM
📢 Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden backtracked on a statement claiming 60+ employers had committed jobs for NEET young people for the flagship job guarantee scheme

feweek.co.uk/mcfadden-ove...
McFadden over-stated employer interest in jobs guarantee
Work and pensions secretary backtracks on claim 60+ employers already 'committed' jobs for NEET young people
feweek.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 4:15 PM
⏳️ The defunding of BTECs and other applied general qualifications could be delayed further, the skills minister has indicated feweek.co.uk/dfe-consider...
DfE considers BTEC defunding delay
Transition plan to new V Levels set to be published alongside level 3 and below pathways consultation response
feweek.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 3:46 PM
'There is a danger pressure is being pushed downwards'
Claudia Boerescu of Waltham Forest College on the risks of AI adding more work pressure onto FE staff
feweek.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 3:33 PM
🗳️ Jo Grady could face a re-ballot over her position as University and College Union leader amid claims she broke campaign rules

feweek.co.uk/watchdog-to-...
Watchdog to hear claims Jo Grady broke UCU election rules
The general secretary narrowly won the 2024 ballot by 182 votes
feweek.co.uk
February 5, 2026 at 2:43 PM
A university has been fined £150,000 by the exams regulator for failing to closely monitor a music qualification test centre and 'negligence' in handling an independent audit
feweek.co.uk/university-o...
University-owned awarding org fined for ‘negligence’ by Ofqual
A university has been fined £150,000 by the exams regulator for failing to closely monitor a music qualification test centre.
feweek.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 5:07 PM
🪧 Nearly two-thirds of University and College Union (UCU) staff are set to walk out next week in another row between the union and its own staff

feweek.co.uk/ucu-staff-to...
UCU staff walk out over alleged ‘trade union victimisation’
Leaders of the union call the claims ‘categorically untrue’
feweek.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 4:52 PM
📋️ Ofsted inspectors have warned against high 16 to 18 dropout rates and weak GCSE resit progress among the first FE colleges to be inspected under the inspectorate’s renewed framework

feweek.co.uk/first-colleg...
First college report cards flag dropout risks and GCSE flaws
Inspectors hand out 'needs attention' grades to colleges with poor retention rates amongst 16-18 learners
feweek.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 3:58 PM
Due to a focus on reading by the prison inspectorate and Ofsted, progress is being made on literacy in prisons. But new education contracts have now cut education provision across the board
@jonbcollins.bsky.social @prisonersed.bsky.social
feweek.co.uk
February 4, 2026 at 3:42 PM